


Crimson dreams

by StealthSister



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe, Eventual Smut, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Flirting, Oral Sex, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sexual Content, Slow Build, Work In Progress, Xenophilia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-03-25 06:37:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 41,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3800557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StealthSister/pseuds/StealthSister
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story placed on an alternative universe. Shepards is still in training and is a Lieutenant. On a training mission she and her team save a crashed ship, that has a sexy drell onboard. Cue flirting</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been going around in my head for quite awhile. I´ll try to update it fairly regulary, but no promises. It depends on how I have time from work and how gracious my friend, who reads and corrects my texts, is. We both have quite timeconsuming jobs, so there might occasionaly be longer pauses between updates.
> 
> The first chapter is short, I know, sorry.
> 
> Shepard and whole Mass Effect world belong to Bioware and EA. I just added some characters and played around with them.

The sun was starting to set once again. Maybe they would actually get some sleep tonight but, going by the sounds from outside the craft they didn't have that kind of luck. It seemed like the varrens are back again. At least the hull was still in one piece. Well, mostly. They couldn't get the ship off the ground, but at least they were able to get some power to this section.

“This one is starting to think no one is coming for tonight us.”

“Don't give up hope yet. We still have food for few days, and if things get really bad, I'll go outside and go hunt us some varrens.”

“This one wishes it will not come to that.”

The drell standing next to the door chuckled at his companion. He wasn't too thrilled about the idea of eating varren either, but sometimes you have to do what it takes to survive. Besides, the hanar had nothing to worry about, he (or it, depending on who you ask from) could survive for weeks without food.

“This one hopes that someone will receive our distress call.”

As if their prayers had been answered they heard a gunshot echoing outside. At least they could hope that whoever fired that shot was coming to help them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is more to read, here's the second chapter as well.
> 
> Still don't own Shepard or world of Mass Effect. They're all Biowares and EAs.

Four soldiers approached the crashed spaceship with their guns aimed at the varrens. With precision that spoke of experience and efficiency the four men killed the animals that had been clawing at the door of the ship. After they had cleared the area, they went to door, and one of the banged the door with his fist.

“Who's there?” came a muffled, raspy voice inside the shipwreck.

“Alliance. We got your signal and have a ship waiting.”

The door opened slowly and the Alliance soldiers got a full view of a drell aiming an assault rifle at their faces. Behind him they noticed some movement, but couldn't get a good look at what it was.

“Relax. We just want to help,” said a hoarse sounding soldier while putting his gun away. Others behind him took the subtle hint from their commander and holstered their weapons.  
With a suspicious glare the drell lowered his weapons but didn't put it away. One of the soldiers gasped when a hanar appeared behind the drell.

“What's that?”

“This one is glad to see Alliance soldiers.”

“Glad to be of assistance,” group's commander said with a nod. “Smith, close your mouth. You may have not seen a hanar before, but you don't have to act like an idiot.”

“This one is called Zameld and he is my bodyguard Araj.”

“Commander Plumply. These are Smith, Madison, and McKenzie.” Each of the three men gave a nod when their names were mentioned. “We should probably head out. I doubt we got every varren on this damn rock.”

“This one agrees,” the hanar said while moving out of the ship. His bodyguard looked a bit tentative, but followed none the less. The group started to move towards the hill as Plumply called for pickup. A lonely gunshot echoed and they heard a thump behind them, when a varren fell to the ground dead, with a neat whole between its eyes. Up on the hill a lone figure stood up and rested a sniper rifle on its hip.

“Damn. She's going to be cocky as hell after that,” Plumply mumbled under his breath. Rest of the soldiers laughed and nodded in agreement. The drell looked at the figure with interest. That was one hell of a shot from such distance.


	3. Chapter 3

As the pickup shuttle landed, the four soldiers, Zameld, Araj and the mystery sniper climbed on board. Smith went to talk with the pilot, Madison and McKenzie took their seats on the back, but Araj only had eyes for the one female on board. He couldn't understand that a woman could have taken a shot like that. Women didn't get any weapons training in his culture.

“You could have warned us Shepard,” Plumply said to the woman who was busy taking her helmet off.

“Sure I could have, and you guys would have teeth marks on your asses,” she said with a crooked smile.

“I don't mind few teeth marks, as long as you'll be the one making them, sweet thing,” Madison pitched in from the back.

“Well, I never knew you felt that way about me, Madison,” Plumply said causing the other soldier to stutter and everyone else to laugh at their banter. 

“Zameld, Araj. This is Lieutenant Shepard. Ltn. these are Zameld and his bodyguard Araj.” She nodded to both of them and gave Araj a quick once over. When her eyes reached his face, she noticed a small smile on his lips. She couldn't help but to smirk and give a wink.

“We'll dock in ten,” Smith said, peeking from the cock pit.

“Notify the captain of our guests. He'll want to see them,” Plumply ordered.

Everyone settled down for the ride and the soldiers took their helmets off. Araj stared at them curiously, but made sure not to let it show on his face. He had never before seen a human in real life. They had things growing out on top of their heads and some of the men even had some of it on their faces.

“We don't see a lot of your kind in our training. So I recommend being prepared, that you guys are going to get some looks on the ship,” Plumply commented to Zameld.

“This one doesn't mind. This one is used to people looking. This one has to admit, that one has spent most of one's time on Kahje and has not seen humans before, either.”

The commander nodded. “Most aliens who see humans for the first time are surprised by the hair. After all, we are the only species out there with it.”

“Hair?” hanar asked. Shepard laughed.

“This,” she explained touching the mass of dark red hair on top her head. “Most guys in the Alliance just shave it off. Some of them replace it by growing beards. Us women tend to leave at least some hair. We just tie it up. As long as it's off the face and above the collar, at least when were on duty.”

Araj looked at the soldiers. Plumply was a bald brawny man, who had a nasty-looking scar on his face – it started above his right eye and continuing on cheek below the eye. Smith was sitting next to pilot and he had short blond hair. Madison was the tallest of them all and had his brown hair cut short on the sides. McKenzie had a light brown, slightly red, clean cut beard and he was all muscle. And Shepard. Well, she had dark red hair (almost the same color as his scales) and dark brown eyes that were focused on him. The others were looking at Zameld, but she was staring straight at Araj with one side of her mouth slightly lifted. Araj couldn't help but feel like he was being evaluated. They stared at each other for awhile with her smile getting wider by the minute. He didn't know what she saw in him but, eventually, she gave a small approving nod and turned to talk with McKenzie.

“Araj?” Drell turned his head towards Plumply, who was offering him some sort of nutrition bar. “I figured you might need something to eat after being stuck on that rock.” Araj nodded to him in thanks. The bald man raised an eyebrow with a question in his eyes, but figured it really didn't matter to him how the drell ended up as a hanar's bodyguard. Instead, he decided to chat with Zameld. He never actually had had a chance to talk to a hanar before, so might as well take advantage of the situation. Araj sat eating his nutrition bar quietly and observing others for rest of the ride.


	4. Chapter 4

“Welcome on board the Dreadnought! I'm captain Murray,” said a grey-haired man in a blue uniform once they exited the shuttle. 

“This one is grateful for your help.” 

“Care to tell me how you ended up on the planet?”

“Our journey came to a stop when we run into some batarian slavers. They damaged our ship, but we were able to get to the relay and jump to this system. Unfortunately, our engine couldn't take the jump and we drifted for awhile until we crash-landed,” Araj explained with his raspy voice. “I managed to fix the communication enough to send a distress call. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it very strong so we weren't sure if the signal would get through the atmosphere.”

“It barely did. Luckily, our crew is good at its job. Now, if you two wouldn't mind, I'd like to talk to you both in private.”

“This one would be happy oblige.”

“Good. Commander Plumply, I'll be expecting a debriefing in one hour”, Murray said looking to the bald man who nodded. “This way, if you please.” The captain guided the hanar and the drell towards his office on the second deck. The ground team stood there until they disappeared in to elevator. At Plumply's command they made their way to the armory to leave their weapons and armor there.

“Ltn. what do you think of them? You're the only one who's even seen a drell before,” asked the commander while they were removing their armor.

“If he's just a bodyguard, then McKenzie is a ballet dancer,” Shepard answered ignoring the jab to the shoulder from the bearded man. “As far as I know, there's only one way for drell to be trained highly enough to travel as a hanar's bodyguard – the Compact.”

“From what I've heard about drell trained in the Compact make me think that we don't want that Araj fellow on board,” McKenzie commented and removed his boots.

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“On what his job is. All I can say is that I think he might be the most dangerous man I have ever met. We might be able to learn a lot from him or we might be found dead in our beds,” she said with a shrug. “Either way, there's not much we can do until the captain informs us about our next assignment.”

“I think I'm gonna sleep with one eye open none the less,” Madison said as he headed to the showers. His comment lightened the mood in the room as Smith and McKenzie followed him. 

“Are you sure, Shep?” Plumply asked from the lieutenant while trying to decide, whether to hit the showers now or after the debriefing.

“I could be wrong, Boss. But my gut tells me that I'm right,” she remarked letting her hair down from its bun. 

“You wouldn't have lived through all that shit, if you couldn't trust your gut feeling. Keep an eye on him. He probably wouldn't consider you as a big threat since their women aren't trained like ours. Besides, it's good practice for you,” he said with a little smirk. He headed to the showers deciding he had enough time before meeting the captain.

“Sure thing, Boss,” she laughed as she chucked the last piece of her armor and her undersuit to her locker. Shepard smiled to herself. She wouldn't mind keeping an eye on that guy. He was tall, muscular, beautiful dark red coloring with black stripes, large soulful eyes, had a voice to die for, and was sure as hell a dangerous one. Yeah, she wouldn't mind keeping an eye on him at all. She preferred her men dangerous. Shepard joined the rest of the ground team at the communal showers. She turned on the water making her plans on how to get close to the drell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapters have been quite short, sorry. I promise they will get longer (hopefully)


	5. Chapter 5

As they walked out of the captain’s cabin, Araj noticed the ground crew sitting around the kitchen table eating something that barely looked eatable. They had changed their clothes and were wearing sleeveless shirts and BDUs. It also seemed that the whole group had taken advantage of the showers, if the wetness of their hair was any indication. What really caught Araj's eye was the length of Shepard’s hair. It was in a single braid on her back and went well below her shoulder blades. Since it wasn't above the collar, she must have been off duty. Somehow it looked even darker than before. He couldn't help but wonder if a human’s hair changed color when it was wet.

“This one has to ask if your crew has some sort of contagious disease. If so, this one would like to be located somewhere else as them.”

“Contagious?” captain Murray looked confused and his crew even more so.

“They have spots of different size and different color over their arms,” Zameld explained.

“Our tattoos?” Smith asked looking at the huge dragon wrapped around his arm and shoulder. In fact, everyone around the table had one or more tattoos on their arms.

The captain chuckled. “Some humans get tattoos to decorate their skins. It's basically ink injected into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Nothing dangerous or contagious, I promise.”

“This one understands. This one would like to contact one's homeworld to inform them of one's situation.”

“Of course. You there, take our guest to the communication room,” Murray ordered a crew man passing by. With a quick salute to his captain, the crew man escorted the hanar away.

“Zameld and Araj will be our guests for awhile and they have been informed about the type of training you are receiving. Araj will be taking the free bunk at your quarters. We've still got an intel mission to do and then we'll have a shore leave on Kahje after we drop of our guests. Until then it's business as usual. Understood?”

“Sir, yes sir!” came echoing from the ground team. Murray nodded and gave the commander a pointed looked that obviously meant that it was time for the debriefing. Plumply got up and followed the captain out of the kitchen.

“Come, sit, eat. It doesn't look good and tastes even worse but it's better than nutrition bars,” McKenzie told Araj. “So, I guess you're stuck with us for awhile.”

“I'm sure I'll survive,” Araj smiled while getting something to eat. “So, if I understood correctly, you four are in training for different kinds of special operations.”

“Actually, the five of us. Plumply too. He's just higher rank than the rest of us, so he's more or less our squad leader,” Madison explained while taking his feet off the chair next to him so that Araj could sit.

“What exactly are you being trained for then?” the drell asked before taking a spoonful of the food. Yeah, he was right. Barely eatable.

“Well, like I said, Plumply is highest rank and is being trained to command task forces for special risky jobs that require a small team. Smith's a field medic, one of the few who's also been trained to use old school medicine. You know, stitching and stuff like that. He's meant to go to areas where medigel and tech are in short supply. We got biotic power in the form of McKenzie. Although, he is strong enough without his powers, with all that time in the gym. Basically, he's taught how to be a battering ram for a team. Shepard is our sniper/infiltrator/spy. She's going to be doing solo black opps and infiltration. And me, well I'm the most important one. I'm the good looking ladies' man who will be charming them all out of their panties,” Madison told. The rest of the team just rolled their eyes.

“Yeah. That's your job,” claimed Shepard in a frustrated tone. “He's really the annoying jackass engineer, who is supposed to learn how to work in a team.”

“And the reason why you are all training together is…?”

“Because we're supposed to learn how to work in a small team or alone with little resources relying only on our wits and each other, and in different kind of environments as well as with different kinds of people,” McKenzie chatted while stuffing his face with food. “It's easier to take small teams to be trained in random planets than organize training for hundreds of men.”

“How about you? How did you end up traveling alone with a hanar?” Shepard asked leaning back on her chair. 

Araj stopped eating to answer the woman. “Zameld is one of my contacts. As a child I was given to the Compact and trained as an infiltrator, or a spy, if you prefer.” He noticed the smirk forming on Shepard´s lips. “My current assignment is to escort him back to Kahje. As you can see, it's not exactly going as I had hoped.”

“Fuck!” exclaimed Madison and opened his omnitool. Araj looked slightly baffled when the other two men also switched their omnitools on and punched something in.

“Thank you, gentlemen. Nice doing business with you,” the only woman at the table said when her own omnitool gave three bings. Araj raised his brow. “I bet them each 100 credits about you being something else than a bodyguard. And I just collected my prize.”

“You made 300 credits on me? I think you owe me a drink for this,” Araj stated with a cocky grin.

“A drink? Are you trying to take advantage of little old me?” Shepard asked flapping her eyelashes at him with so much fake innocence that she couldn't have looked guiltier if she tried.

Araj clearly wasn't convinced. “Why not? You took advantage of me.”

Soft laughter echoed in the kitchen area. Shepard got up, still laughing, and started to head out. On her way out, she walked past Araj, touched his shoulder, and whispered: “Not yet I haven't.” With a wink over her shoulder she sauntered towards the crew quarters. Araj and rest of the men were left looking after Shepard and her swaying hips.

“You do understand she's trained to wrap people around her finger and make them do whatever she wants?” Smith questioned as Madison pulled playing cards from his BDU's pocket and started to deal them.

“Who says she's the only one?” the drell spoke as he took his plate away. Then he sat back down to follow the three men playing cards.

“Great. Now we have two of them,” McKenzie muttered as the poker game started.


	6. Chapter 6

Shepard's omnitool woke her up after a peaceful night. She had still been reading when the guys finished their poker game and crawled to their beds. If the smug look on Plumply’s face had been any indication, he had cleared the table. When questioned, he confirmed Shepard’s hypothesis.

Yawning, she stretched her arms above her before jumping down from her top bunk. Since she woke up first, it was up to her to decide what music to use to wake every one up. Just to annoy the guys she picked elcor opera. As the music filled the small room she walked to her locker to put on her exercise clothes. Four figures started to move in their beds covering their ears with their pillows. The fifth lifted his head and looked at the woman who was changing her clothes.

“You have an interesting taste in music,” Araj mumbled, his voice thick with sleep.

Shepard lifted her eyes from tying her boots to the drell now sitting at the edge of his bunk above Smith. Damn…. He looked good. Since he was dressed only in shorts she could get a nice view of Araj's toned figure. Her eyes followed some of the stripes that went down his abs and disappeared into his pants.

“Enjoying the view?” the half-naked drell asked chuckling. He had noticed the path of her eyes, not that he minded. She shrugged, unimpressed, but couldn't hide the laughter in her eyes.

“Flirting attempted and shot down. Now when that's settled, can you please turn that racket off?” the commander begged sitting up.

“Sure thing, Boss. Just wanted to make sure all of you woke up,” Shepard said. “Sparring after breakfast?”

“Absolutely. Can't wait to kick your ass after that music choice,” McKenzie rumbled pulling his sweats on.

“Seconded!” Madison mumbled lifting his hand in the air, his head still under his pillow.

“Same here,” Smith's voice came from one of the beds.

“Looks like you're gonna get what you're asking for. And on today’s schedule we have grappling. Dress accordingly,” Plumply said closing his locker after changing his clothes. He, McKenzie, Shepard, and now fully dressed Araj headed out for breakfast as the rest were still trying to find excuses to stay in bed.

In the mess hall the cook offered them different options for breakfast. Plumply and Shepard went straight to protein filled foods and fruits, whereas McKenzie piled his plate full of pretty much everything. Araj looked at the options little unsurely but settled for the fruits figuring that they looked the safest and most eatable. Taking a seat across from Shepard, Araj dug into his breakfast. The drell was pleasantly surprised by the taste of the unfamiliar fruits.

“You sure you got enough food? There's still something left in some of the pans,” Shepard quipped at McKenzie who had two full plates of food in front of him.

“I might have to go back for seconds,” McKenzie replied unfazed. 

“And here you can see the reason why we only have one biotic onboard. We would run out of supplies in few days otherwise,” smiled the woman giving the large man next to her an affectionate one-armed hug. Seeing Araj's confused face she continued. “Human biotics have fast metabolism, meaning that they have to eat in rather large quantities. As proof, exhibit A.” She showcased McKenzie who just shook his head with a smile. 

Smith and Madison trailed to breakfast and joined them at the table. Listening to the banter at the table, Araj realized that even though the five humans pestered each other endlessly, they were a tight-knit group. No one seemed to take any of the jabs personally. 

“Okay. Shuttle bay in thirty minutes. It should be enough time for your breakfasts to settle. We'll start easy,” Plumply said after everyone had finished. The soldiers got up and took their dishes away.

“Commander. Do you think it would be possible for me to join you as well? I could use some exercise,” the drell asked politely.

“I'm expecting you to be there. I've heard things about drell trained in the Compact. I wanna see if what I've heard is true,” the scarred soldier laughed and gave the drell a slap on the shoulder. “Besides, it's good for us all to train with different people, who have different sets of skills.”


	7. Chapter 7

Music filled the shuttle bay when Araj and Plumply got out of the elevator. Some mats had already been rolled out on the floor and they could see Shepard and Madison running laps around the room. McKenzie was doing some pull-ups while Smith sat on one of crates. 

“Alright. You know the warm up routine,” the commander said and those who weren't already running started a jogging leisurely. This isn't what Araj was expecting when he was told that they would be sparring, but if he had to run to spar, then he would run. 

After ten minutes of running Plumply decided it was time to start the real warm up. “On the clap of my hands, balls to the ground!”

A sharp clap pierced through the music and each of the soldiers jumped on their stomachs to the ground. Araj didn't have time to follow before they already jumped back up and continued running. By the next clap he knew what to do and moved as one with the others. He was quite impressed. The shuttle bay floor wasn't the softest one and hip bones were guaranteed to bruise, but none of the soldiers hesitated even for a second to fling themselves down. 

For the next half an hour they ran, sprinted, jumped, rolled, and galloped. Finally Plumply was certain that every ones muscles were warmed up. He ordered a water break and gave some instructions. “Let's do few more exercises to get the deep muscles working too. Pick a pair and do fifty squads, push-ups and battle buddy sit-ups.”

“Fifty? Are you going soft, Matt?” Shepard asked laughing and drank few sips of water.

“Me? I'm hurt, Liz. Just thought we should go easy on our lizard boy over there,” the commander answered pointing to Araj.

“Matt? Liz?” the drell asked slightly confused.

“Oh, right. We never told you our full names and ranks; Commander Matt Plumply, Lieutenants Alice Shepard and Mark Madison, Ensigns Al Smith and Jack McKenzie. We tend to use only our first names or nicknames when off duty or sparring,” Plumply explained.

“Yeah, that's because on the mats, there are no ranks; just those kicking ass and those getting their asses kicked,” Madison huffed draping Smith over his shoulders. Araj saw the commander lift McKenzie and start doing deep squads. Shepard was staring at the drell expectantly.

“What?”

“You wanna start or shall I?”

“I'll start,” Araj said. He walked over to Shepard and raised her over his shoulders. “Comfy, Liz?”

“Just move your scaly ass, will you?” Shepard smirked giving that aforementioned ass a spank. The drell just laughed and started doing squads in fast rhythm. After fifty they switched positions. Araj had to appreciate the view he got of the woman’s behind during this exercise.

After squads it was on to push-ups. The pair overlapped their legs so they were resting on each other’s backs, so when they pushed themselves up they only had their hands touching the ground. It took some balancing since Araj wasn't used to this, but they managed. But what the drell really enjoyed was battle buddy sit-ups. Shepard did that first to demonstrate. She jumped to her pair's lap and wrapped her legs around his waist.

“You can support me by holding on to me here,” she said placing his hands on her waist.

“I think I prefer holding them here. For better support,” he contradicted moving his hands to her behind. She could see the challenge in his eyes.

“I bet,” remarked Shepard licking her lower lip. If he wanted to play then she wasn't going to back down. His eyes were drawn to her mouth. “You ready, lizard boy?”

“Sure thing, Liz.”

Shepard bent her back until her head almost touched the ground. Then she lifted herself up so her face was inches from his. The challenge was in both of their eyes now. As she continued with the sit-ups, Shepard could feel Araj's grip on her backside as well as his thumbs moving in small circles as a sort of caress. When she was done they swapped positions even though he worried that she might not be able keep herself upright with him clinging to her. But, once again, the woman surprised him and stood still while he did his sit-ups.

“Okay, enough of this fooling around. Let's get the clock running,” Plumply said without sounding even slightly winded.

“You said earlier that we would be grappling. What does that mean?” Araj inquired.

“What I mean with grappling is submission wrestling. You attempt to get your opponent to submit by choking them or making different kind of locks on their joints. This can be done standing up or on the ground. They key is that when the other one submits, verbally or by tapping, you have to let go of them. We're not trying to hurt the other one, just get them to submit. No hitting, kicking, biting, scratching, eye gouging, or pulling on clothes. And no locks to fingers, toes, or wrists. This sparring is just for fun and exercise,” commander tried to explain. “Liz, come here. It's easier to show than explain.”

“I knew you wanted me under you,” Shepard said with saucy wink. Plumply removed his shirt and shoes, leaving only his shorts on. At the same time Shepard chucked her shoes to a nearby crate. She also removed her shirt and long pants revealing very short and tight shorts and a sports bra. Each and every one of the men took a moment to make sure they got a full view of her toned figure. She rolled her eyes, muttering something under her breath about men before coughing. The commander's eyes snapped back into her face and with a grin they both readied themselves. Araj looked with interest at their rather unusual fighting stances; they were, in lack of a better word, slouched. They circled each other for awhile until Plumply, with fast move, placed his hand to the back of Shepard’s ankle and pulled her leg from right under her. As she fell to the ground, she grabbed the commanders' neck pulling him down with her and straight between her thighs. She was then able to use her legs around his body to control his movement.

“That's called a guard. Being at the bottom usually isn't where you want to be, but don't let Liz fool you. She doesn't mind, because her flexibility ables her to make a large variety of locks from that position,” McKenzie commented to Araj as they watched the pair on the floor.

As if she wanted to prove McKenzie’s words, Shepard twisted her right leg behind Plumply's left arm and over his shoulder so that her ankle was next his throat. Then she reached behind his head and pulled. Her ankle was blocking large veins on both sides of his throat and it was causing him to start to lose consciousness. He placed his hand on her leg and pressed his thumb on the enthesis of the thigh muscle. Her left leg forfeited some of its hold when the pain set in. With that little distraction he was able to escape her choke hold and used his strength to move his body to Shepard's right side. Once there he laid his upper body on her chest to keep her down. Without letting him to settle too comfortably she lifted her left leg around his head until she was choking him again; this time by squeezing his throat between her shin and thigh. By controlling his head she twisted his entire body to the ground and off of her. Then she just squeezed her legs. Plumply didn't give up without a fight though. He lifted his right hand in hope of being able to make her lose balance, but she wasn't going to have it. She grabbed his hand by the wrist and placed her left forearm to his arm bend. With her right arm she bended his arm slightly and moved her left forearm so the sharp bones were digging to his arm's enthesis. Despite his efforts he couldn't release himself from her hold. His arm felt like there were knives stabbed to it and he could hardly breathe anymore. He had no choice but to tap. At the sound of his submission she let go of his hand and lifted her enough as not to choke him anymore.

“Matt, what the hell were you thinking? You know that if she gets someone’s head between her legs, she's going squeeze the life out of you,” Madison joked as the commander was catching his breath. During the pair's grappling the other men had also stripped down to their shorts.

“Oh, please. We all know you like to have your head between a woman’s legs, Mark,” Smith remarked and was tackled to the ground as a reply by Madison. 

“So, now you have an idea what this is all about. Ready to try?” Plumply asked Araj when Shepard and McKenzie moved to have more space around them.

“I'll give it a go. I shall do my best not to hurt you in a permanent way.”

“Good. Okay everybody, five minute rounds. When the clock rings take some water and change partners. After submission, get up and start again.”

During the next five minutes, Araj had to change his preset idea that humans were inferior fighters compared to drells. The commander had him in a headlock within thirty seconds and things didn't improve much during the rest of the round. When the clock rang, Plumply suggested that the drell wouldn't hold back. Sure, drell were very strong as a species but he was trying to be too careful and, because of that, he was losing. Sparring against Madison, Araj's grappling was improving, and by the time he was against Smith he actually managed to get him to tap a couple of times. Araj was slightly more confident when McKenzie was his opponent. The biotic had more power but the drell managed to control him using his own flexibility. He was surprised by McKenzie's speed though. The human was fast for someone of his size. When the fourth round was ticking to its end, Araj was distracted by a steady banging sound. He and McKenzie stopped and so did Plumply and Smith. They could see Shepard holding Madison in her guard. He was resting his head against her chest and had his hands on her waist. But what caused the banging sound was Madison lifting her in the air and smacking to the ground again and again.

“Mark, what the hell are you doing? Looks like you're fucking her through the mat,” Plumply piped laughing.

“I wish! I'm just trying to get this bitch off me!”

The others couldn’t manage to grapple since they couldn't stop laughing at the engineer's feeble attempts to detach the woman. When the bell rang again, she released her hold and somersaulted backwards away from Madison. The man shot a sour look towards her and chose another partner for the next round. Shepard stood up and looked at the only man she hadn't sparred with yet and crooked her finger in a “com hither” kind of way. How could anyone resist a scantily dressed woman asking one to walk over to her? Araj definitely couldn't. They took their fighting stances and the challenge from earlier was back in their eyes. The game was back on.

Araj went to tackle her but she flipped herself to his back and went for his throat. He recovered quickly from his failed take down and pressed his chin to his chest so she couldn't get a choke hold. After grapping her arm he tossed her over his shoulder and pressed her to the mat. He straddled her waist and pushed her arms up. By the look on her face, she didn't mind being manhandled by the drell, but then again, he didn't mind having her under him. Shepard moved her hands quickly to make him lose balance and turned them over. Araj was tempted to try some of the moves he had seen her use on Plumply, but she was smaller and he wasn't nimble enough. So he did what he could. He sat up, with her still in his guard, and tangled her head to his armpit so he could get a strangle hold. 

Unfortunately, the drell didn't remember to use his legs to control the woman. She pushed with her feet to roll over and ended up laying her head next his. From there she twisted herself enough so that she was sitting on his chest. Then she lifted his right hand against her chest and slipped her right leg behind his neck. Turning to her back, Shepard slipped her right ankle behind her left knee. The woman moved his right hand to her right side and started to pull his head towards her chest. His own arm and her leg were blocking all blood circulation to his brains and he had no other choice but to tap. She immediately let go of her hold but he didn't hurry up. Araj moved his hand gently across the woman’s bare abs. He was so concentrated on how she felt that he almost missed the quiet gasp and goose pumps that his actions caused her. When he lifted his eyes to her face, he could see her looking back with something in that gaze that caused his own breathing to slightly speed up. She might have made him tap out but she definitely wasn't winning their game.

Araj smiled at her knowing full well what his touch had caused and made a mental note of this weakness of hers, so it could be used against her in future sparring sessions. He got up and held his hand out to help her. Shepard stood with his assistance and gave a smile of her own. It said, that she wasn't going to give up that easily.

They continued sparring but neither of them was able to get the other to submit anymore. Two hours after the six had started warming up they sat on the crates drinking water and talking. Araj felt relaxed in the company of these humans. He hadn't felt like that for a long time, such comradery. Shepard had proven that women could fight, and well, same as the four males had shown that humans were innovative and persistent fighters. Araj knew that it wasn't wise for someone of his profession to lose his concentration like this, but he also knew that Zameld was safe on this ship and he didn't have to worry about the hanar. He was content for the first time in a long while. Araj caught Shepard staring at him again. Well, almost content, he thought to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one got a bit out of hand. I got to write about something I really, really like, so it's quite spesific. Sorry.


	8. Chapter 8

The communal shower was filled with warm steam when the five soldiers and one drell were showering after their sparring session. Araj was slightly trepid. Female drell weren't trained to fight, so you usually only saw them naked in more intimate settings, but apparently human females in the military showered with the men. The drell tried to keep his eyes on the wall in front him because Shepard was showering next to him. He didn't want to embarrass himself. Not that he was embarrassed about his package; quite the opposite actually. The humans just might find it uncomfortable having a fully erected drell next to them. Washing himself, the drell thought that Shepard probably chose her showerhead on purpose, as a pay pack for his teasing during their sparring. From peripheral vision Araj could see her silhouette, the curve of her breasts, and thanks to his eidetic memory he wouldn't be able rid himself of that memory, ever. He decided to finish as fast as possible. It had been too long since he had been with a female of any species, so if he didn't get out of the shower quickly he just might take her right there and then.

“You okay, drell?”

“Fine. Why?”

“Well… You haven't moved in a few minutes. Wanted to make sure you didn't have a seizure or something.”

“I was just trying to get my muscles to relax with the warm water. I haven't trained with others for a long time, so I'm afraid I'm a bit out of shape.”

Araj cursed under his breath. He instinctively had turned his head to talk with the commander, and doing so he got a full view of Shepard's naked body. His fingers started to twitch, because he wanted to run his hands all over her body. Araj could remember how soft it had felt during their sparring. He pressed his forehead against the cool wall in hope of gaining control over his body.

“Huh, wouldn't have guessed that your stripes go all the way to your privates.”

Shocked, the drell turned his eyes to the woman leaning to the wall next to him. Her gaze was fixated to his crotch and Araj could feel blood rushing south. Shepard gave a low, soft chuckle when she noticed his reaction. Smirking, she leered at his body. The look on her face made him think about grapping her and pushing her against the wall. She, on the other hand, had different plans. With a fast move Shepard turned the water on his shower to ice cold. Giving an undignified yelp he jumped backwards, away from the water, causing the humans to burst in laughter.

“If it helps, she's done that to all of us as well,” Smith said cheerfully.

“No. No, it doesn't,” Araj grunted.

Shepard turned the drell's shower back to warm and scowling Araj warmed himself up, and left without saying a word to anyone. The confused humans looked at each other.

“Now you´ve done it. I actually thought it might be safe to sleep tonight, but you had to piss him off,” Madison complained.

“Shit… I'll go talk to him and apologize,” Shepard said and turned the shower off. She dryed herself, put her BDUs on and went to search for the drell.

She found Araj sitting on his bunk with his head on his hands.

“Hey, can I come in?”

No answer.

“I'm sorry. I just thought of you as one of the guys. I forgot that in your culture women are more restrained around men. I swear, I didn't mean to offend you.”

Still no answer.

“Right,” she sounded disappointed to Araj. “I'll leave you alone. You won't be getting any more trouble from me.”

Shepard turned around and was almost at the door, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around she saw Araj standing there with a curious look on his face.

“You know of our culture?”

“A little. I met a drell some years ago on an assignment.”

“Is that why you knew the pressure points when we sparred?”

“Yeah. He taught me those among other things.”

“Please, sit. I'm curious. What did he tell?”

“He told me, for example, how the hanar saved your people,” Shepard said sitting down. She continued to relate him everything she had learned about his people’s history, culture, and religion. After that they chatted about whatever came to their heads.

After an hour McKenzie walked into the room and saw Shepard sitting on one of the beds with her top off and next to Araj, who was tracing the lines of tattoos on her ribcage with his fingers.

“Interrupting something?” the biotic asked with a barely covered smile.

“We're just getting to know each other,” answered Shepard with a slight blush at being caught half naked with someone’s hands on her.

“Oh, I can see that. We were wondering if you two were planning to join us for lunch. But I would hate to disturb you 'getting to know each other'.”

Shepard got up looking at McKenzie with annoyance. It didn't help that she could hear Araj chuckling behind her. Together the three of them walked to mess hall where the rest of the ground team was already sitting around the table.

“So, the love birds have solved their little quarrel?” Plumply inquired as the threesome approached.

“You bet. They had their hands all over each other when I went to get them,” McKenzie laughed.

“Shut up,” Shepard growled sitting down.

“I wish to apologize to all of you. I should have explained my reaction instead of just walking out. Drell aren't fans of cold. Our people are originally from a very warm and dry planet so our bodies are designed for that kind of environment. Cold makes us slower and long term exposure can cause hibernation,” Araj explained. “Fortunately, that doesn't bother me anymore. Liz here was kind enough to make sure that I was nice and warm.”

The drell's final comment earned him laughter from the guys and a smack on the head from Shepard.

“Ass,” the woman spat out.

“Now, now. We both are well aware that you like my ass. At least you stare at it fondly given the chance,” Araj remarked.

Laughter in the room got even louder and Shepard had trouble looking angry when the same laughter was bubbling inside of her. She gave up all pretense and joined the others in their merriment. Finally they settled down and went to get some lunch.

“So, what were you two actually doing when I came in?” McKenzie asked when his curiosity got the better of him.

“We were discussing the meaning behind my tattoos,” Shepard told mouth full of food.

“We were? I was just trying to fondle you to be honest.”

Shepard just rolled her eyes to the drell's comment. Apparently she hadn't offended him in the showers. Maybe he really just had been feeling cold. At least she hoped so, because flirting with him was quite intriguing, and it didn't seem that he minded, on the contrary. actually.

“She showed you the ones on her ribcage? Cross, anchor, and heart?” Araj nodded to McKenzie's question. “How about the one behind her left ear?”

The drell turned to Shepard, who pulled her hair to the side. Grasping her chin and neck softly, he turned her head slightly. Araj could see two black birds behind her ear. He traced them with one finger and made a mental note about the small shiver that went through her when he did so. He inquired the meaning of that tattoo and then released her.

“Those are two ravens, Hugin and Munin. They belonged to an old nord god named Odin. The duo flew all over the world and on the different planes of creation. Then they would return to Odin and tell him everything they had seen and heard. I may be Christian but those two ravens remind me of my Scandinavian roots.”

“How about the tattoos on the rest of you?”

“Well, like Liz, I'm Christian and have a Celtic cross on my shoulder. I also have other Celtic-styled tattoos. I guess you could say they remind me of home. Mum always used to embroider things like these on the clothes of me and my siblings. She said we should never forget we're Irish, and that we should bloody well be proud of it,” McKenzie said showing the twirling lines on his arms. Each of the images seemed to consist of one line.

“I got this huge dragon, because it's badass,” Smith commented.

“Being an engineer I had to go with machinery tattoos. I like the idea that my tattoos make it look like I'm part machine myself,” Madison piped in. Araj remembered seeing same kind of tattoos on the man’s legs as well. They looked like part of the skin had been peeled back to show 'the machinery' inside.

Plumply just held out his arm that had text on it. _I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade._ “It's the code I live by.”

“Why do humans usually get tattoos?”

“Some may be from showing up, others are from growing up, sometimes they were so messed up, and they didn’t have a clue. Some for religion, some for memory of others, some to unity. There are a lot reasons. Everyone has their own,” the bearded biotic explained.

“You must have seen tattoos before. They're not that rare,” the group’s medic commented.

“I've seen them before, but the ones I have seen have been much more simple and they usually represent one way or another the planet or colony the person is from,” Araj said. “And my people don't have tattoos. Because our scales shed, there really isn't any point in a drell getting one. And hanar, well, good luck trying to get a tattoo on one of them.”

“I gotta ask. You've travelled around the galaxy, probably more than any of us. How open-minded are the females of other races?”

“It depends on the race, Mark. Krogans are extremely protective of their females. Turian females might be more open, but they tend to stay off anyone without sharp teeth and claws, although I doubt they have anything against some stress relief. Asaris don't exactly have genders and they don't seem to mind some cross species liaisons. To be honest, I have never even seen a female vorcha or batarian, not that I mind. When it comes to volus and elcor, I can never tell whether they are male or female. Quarians tend to keep to themselves. I'm not sure that a hanar even could mate with someone who is from a different species, and I'm not too keen on even thinking about it. Drell females don't usually travel from Kahje that much, so it's rare to meet one outside the hanar homeworld.”

“And the males?” Shepard asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Well, I haven't tried to seduce males, so I don't have any first-hand experience, but I would guess that most of what I said applies to the males also. I think there are only really two differences. One, drell males travel quite widely, at least the ones who are trained in the Compact. We are more or less encouraged to take advantage of hospitality, assuming we are not committed to someone. Two, krogan males might be interested in humans, but I only recommend that if you don't mind some tears on your private areas.”

“I'll pass,” the woman laughed with the men at the table.

“Glad to see you are all getting along,” captain Murray said walking to the table. The soldiers immediately straightened up on their seats. “You have been scheduled weapons training at 1300 and at 1800 you will receive training according to your specialties. Araj, I'd like to ask you to share your expertise with Shepard, since you've travelled extensively and have experience in the field she's being trained at.”

“Of course, captain. It would be my honor to assist.”

“Good. We got a word from Kahje and they are pleased that you were able to get Zameld to safety. They also recommended that you try to relax, since Zameld will be safe onboard this ship and apparently you have been working undercover without any breaks for a rather long time.”

“I will try. May I be allowed to join the others in weapons training?"

“Permission granted. Rest of you, dismissed.”

The captain walked back to the elevator. The ground crew stood up slowly.

“I guess the brake's over. Let´s get to the shooting range. The one with the lowest hit count buys a round on shore leave,” the commander said challenging the rest of them.

“You're on, Boss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to anyone who notices the Dropkick Murphys' reference


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it's taken this long to add a chapter. Both me and my beta have been swamped with work. Hope this has been worth the wait. Please let me know what you think!

Weapons training had ended in Smith's defeat and drinks would be on him the next time. The group had teased him endlessly during dinner and inquired from Araj the most expensive drinks to order. After dinner Smith departed to be practice with the ship's doctor. Madison headed to engineering. The ship's only biotic, McKenzie, went back to the shuttle bay to practice his fields and pushing his limits. The commander was being trained by Captain Murray.

Shepard, on the other hand, was sitting alone in the ground team’s quarters with Araj. She was interested in what the drell planned on teaching her. The woman had few ideas what she wouldn't mind learning from him, but they might need more privacy for those lessons.

“So, what would you like to know? My entire experience is at your disposal.”

Hearing Araj's ruff voice brought quite a few images in Shepard's head. Images of what they could do with all of his experience. Images that didn't include much clothing.

“Well, I guess it might be useful for me to be able to read the body language of others species.” She tried her best to keep her voice steady but the look on his face told her that he knew exactly what she had actually thought.

“It truly is beneficial in our line of work to read the subtle signs. The change in one's breathing, the move of one's body. All the little things that tell so much.” While talking, Araj had leaned closer to Shepard and grinned when he noticed the slight gasp that escaped from her. “I will teach you these things on one condition.”

“I thought you were happy to assist. That's at least what you said to the captain,” the woman said enjoying their game and his proximity.

“Oh trust me, I am happy. I'm simply asking that you shall answer a question of mine as I answer one of yours. Is this acceptable?“ Araj asked fixing his eyes on hers.

“Depends entirely on you questions,” Shepard quipped leaning back so she could rest on her elbows.

“You're free to decline answering if the question seems too offensive.”

“Okay. Go ahead. Ask.”

“You told me how a drell in your past taught you about my people and how to fight against us, in which you are quite proficient. My question is: how much did he exactly tell about drell physiology?”

“I got an extensive lesson.”

“Care to share?”

Shepard looked like answering when she changed her mind. “I think it was my turn to ask.”

“Very well.”

“How can you tell a turian is lying?”

“It's easiest to hear from their sub vocals, but their mandibles also tend to twitch when lying. How long have you known the members of your team?”

“I met Al when we came onboard the Dreadnought. Me, Jack, and Mark went through basic training together. Matt was my team leader in my first tour. How do you prepare for missions?”

“Some prepare by meditation, others by praying. I've never been that spiritual, so I go out and remind myself of my reasons for living.”

“Which are?”

“The little things. Good food, good music, the company of beautiful women.”

“Women?”

“I told you, I've never seduced a man. You owe me three questions.”

“Three questions? Damn, you're right. Fine, shoot.”

“Just how extensive were your lessons?”

“Pretty hands on. Only way to learn. But we didn't have sex, if that's what you're asking. He had a woman back home.”

“So you know how to bring down a drell. I think it's only fair to balance the scale. Will you teach me about human physiology? Purely for fighting purposes, of course.”

“With one condition. You have to give me a backrub. The rifle kicked quite hard earlier.”

“I get to fondle you again. How could I say no? Take your top off and lay on the bed.”

Shepard did as he had instructed. When Araj started to knead the muscles on her back, she couldn't hold back a groan.

“Oh sweet Jesus, that's the spot.”

“You forgot my name already? I'm offended. Here I thought we had something special. Maybe I should just leave you and this Jesus alone.”

When Araj started to get up, Shepard grabbed his leg.

“Don't you even think about leaving! I swear to God, I will skin your scaly ass if you don't finish what you started.”

“As you wish,” the drell said sitting back down. Her skin felt soft under his hands and he did enjoy the moans and groans she let out when he hit a specially knotted spot on her back.

“So, on to my third question. You wanted to skin my behind. Again you wish to do something with my backside. Earlier you spanked me. It's like you are obsessed. What's so fascinating about it?”

“It's a nice tight ass. I like that on a guy. You should be proud of having an ass like that.”

“Nice to know you appreciate my appearance.”

“Yeah, yeah, don't let it go to your head. Tell me about your favorite mission.”

“Most assignments are classified. But one of my favorites is an escort job.”

“You've worked as a male escort?” Shepard chuckled.

“Not that kind of escort. I was ordered to go and get one of the ruling members of hanar society. He had been on a diplomatic mission and needed to get back to Kahje safely. Unfortunately some slavers interrupted our flight. I was more or less sure that we were done for, but then rescue came for us in the form of five humans. Interesting bunch of fellows, one in particular. A feisty red-head who was very fun to banter with. Almost as big of a flirt as me, but more of a tease.”

“A tease? How awful.”

“I know. I'm starting to think she should have been punished for that kind of behavior. No female drell would ever behave as brashly as she did. On the other hand, I never did like submission in my women.”

“Your women?”

“Yes. MY women,” Araj whispered next to her ear. Then he flipped her over and pushed Shepard's hands over her head. His eyes roamed over her figure. His other hand held her hands securely while the other was caressing her side and abs.

“And what in the world makes you think that red-head would ever be one of your women?” Shepard asked leaning into his touch.

“Because I can read people well and I knew that she was interested. She liked my appearance, voice, and touch. Even if after all that she would have hesitated I know how to turn a woman around.”

“Really? And how exactly would you do that?”

“I have ways. You don't spent this long at this profession without learning a few things. Not to mention all the perks of being with a drell in the first place. Most races can get high from our venom that we can secrete when we desire. It enhances senses and can intensify pleasurable feelings. Drells also have more stamina and endurance when engaging in strenuous activities.”

Araj ran his lips along her neck. The hand that was caressing Shepard moved behind her head and the drell pulled her for a kiss. Shepard's mouth felt soft against Araj's and he gave her lips a lick asking for entry. When she granted entrance he deepened the kiss. He rolled to his back and pulled her to straddle him. His hands were pulling the woman closer and she grinded slightly against him. Shepard grinned when she heard him groan. Araj had said she was a tease and he was right. Although, Shepard had every intention to taking advantage of him, given the chance. She licked Araj's frills on the side of his neck. His groan turned into a deep growl.

“You honestly think I'm a tease?”

“You're still wearing the rest of your clothes. So yes, I think you're a tease.”

“No, I'm just not an exhibitionist. You should remember that we’re still onboard a ship with cameras everywhere.”

“I don't care.”

“Unfortunately, I do.” Shepard removed the drell's hands from her waist and stood up.

“We need more privacy,” he said sounding frustrated.

“Agreed. Until then we just try to control ourselves.”

Araj sat up on the bed trying to will his body to calm down. What was it with this woman? He didn't usually lose his control like this. Shepard grabbed her shirt with the intention of putting it on.

“Hold on. I still owe you a massage. Sit down. I promise not to try and get you out of the rest of your clothes. Besides, I'm still supposed to share my knowledge.”

“You just want to get your hands all over me again. Don't you?”

“Maybe. But I made a promise to your captain to teach you.”

Shepard nodded slightly and sat down. The drell resumed massaging her shoulders.

“Perhaps you should tell me about your missions. That might distract both of us.”

“You need distraction?”

“Yeah. And I think you can add 'give great massages' to your list of things you use to charm a woman.”

“You have no idea how good I'm with my hands. Well, no idea yet.”

“Araj, you really know what to say to a woman.”

“Say, touch, kiss, do. I promise a more thorough demonstration when we don't have to worry about filming or interruptions.”

“I'm looking forward to it.”

“As am I.”

Araj told Shepard about his previous assignments. He behaved mostly like a gentleman. Neither of them counted the 'accidental' strokes and kisses as bad behavior. By the time Smith came into the room to get Madison's playing cards, they were more or less on first base. Shepard and Araj were off each other before the medic saw anything, but the poor man had to suffer some rather vexed looks from the interrupted drell who was just hoping to get laid.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for those liking this story, I'm actually quite suprised of its reception. Please let me know of any blatant typos of other mistakes. I'd also loved to hear your comments : )
> 
> Just as a reminder, I don't own Mass Effect world or the characters. They belong to Bioware

Araj was getting increasingly annoyed. He hadn't been with a woman for a long time and now he was in the presence of one that was more than willing. The problem was they didn't have any chance to do anything more than a few kisses and some over the clothes action. The drell had to wear his leathers pretty much all the time now, since any other clothes would have revealed the state Shepard caused. The woman seemed to enjoy his inconvenient status. Her flirting and touches were more forward than a few days ago when they first met. Others were starting to notice their behavior as well. Madison had actually started a betting pool on when the two would just rip each other’s clothes off and have their wicked way. Luckily they had kept the betting between the ground team. On the positive side, Araj's sparring was fiercer than ever. That´s what sexual frustration apparently does to drell.

“God damn. Liz, couldn't you just give him a quick blow job or something behind one of the crates? Preferably when I still have a few unbroken ribs left,” Madison groaned after Araj punched a hard right hook to his ribcage.

“Too many cameras around. You know that. Just imagine how much footage there is of you jerking off,” Shepard said dodging Smith's punch.

“Don't remind me.”

“What's a blow job?” the drell asked, confused.

“Are you kidding me? You do'´t know?” the engineer seemed to have forgotten his aching side.

“The term is unfamiliar to me.”

“It's when the chick has the guy's cock in her mouth and she sucks on it.”

“Ah, I am acquainted with the technic, but I don't remember there being any blowing involved.”

That seemingly innocent remark caused a long discussion among the men about the name 'blow job'. Shepard tried to stay out of the conversation after she was asked to demonstrate. 

A cough interrupted the heated debate. The Alliance soldiers along with the drell turned around to see the culprit.

“This isn't what I had in mind when I told you to learn from each other,” the Captain scolded the group. “We are arriving to the Terminus System. Shepard, your contact just informed us that he'll be waiting for us by the mass relay on the Vallhallan Threshold. We'll be there in half an hour. You'd better get ready.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Are you sure you'll be okay heading out with him?”

“Positive.”

“That's enough for me. If you'll join me, we'll go through the details of your pick up.”

Shepard left with Captain Murray, leaving the rest of the ground team to continue their sparring.

“What did he mean saying that she was heading out with someone?” Araj inquired sounding a tad jealous.

“She's going to meet an old friend of hers who has promised to help us get some intel. His one demand was that he be allowed to do this alone with Liz. He has some trust issues,” Plumply said calmly.

“You know this guy?”

“I've met him briefly on an assignment with Liz. He's good at what he does and he would never allow anything to happen to her.”

“Why?”

“As far as I know, the merc is an old family friend. Liz's dad used to run in the same group as this guy.”

“Her dad? How old is this guy?”

“Trust me, don't underestimate him because of his age. He's one of the harshest badasses around and can kill you in an instant.”

“And Liz is going to be alone with this guy?”

“Like I said, he would never hurt her. He's more like an uncle to her. I recommend not pissing him off, or her for that matter. I got a hunch that if you insult or hurt Liz, he will come after you and make you regret the day you were born.”

“Can't wait to meet him.”

In twenty minutes Shepard and the Captain were back in the shuttle bay. She had a duffel pack with her and had changed her clothes. Araj couldn't keep his eyes off her. The woman was dressed in tight black leather pants and a tank top that covered only slightly more than her sports bra. She had sturdy military styled boots on and her leather jacket was on top of her bag. Seeing all that skin the drell was barely able to stop from growling; especially knowing that she would be going with another man. On the other hand, he was pleased she wasn't leaving the ship unarmed. She had pistols holstered on her sides and shock rings on her fingers. Most people probably wouldn't recognize them since they were illegal in Council space. They were meant as close combat weapons and could be used to give the opponent an electric shock strong enough to stop their heart, even a krogans.

“Nice rings. Haven't seen you wear them before,” Smith said.

“Thanks. I figured I should wear them for this occasion since I got them from my contact.”

“He's buying you jewelry? Just how close are you two?”

Shepard laughed. “It's not like that. These are very special rings. I'll explained it later.”

Araj was starting to think that Plumply was right about this mercenary they were supposed to meet. Shock rings were rather expensive and to give two of them as a gift… He must really care about Shepard.

The energy field turned on and the shuttle bay doors opened letting in a small space ship. It couldn't have had room for more than two or three people. The ship landed and after a few moments its passenger was walking towards the Captain and Shepard.

“Welcome onboard. I assume you are our contact,” Murray said.

“Yeah, that would be me. Liz, ready to go?” the rough sounding mercenary rumbled. 

“You bet, Z,” Shepard smiled. She looked almost giddy with joy.

“For the record, I'm not exactly happy to let one of my officers run off with someone I don't particularly trust, in a part of space that isn't under my jurisdiction,” the Captain remarked sounding annoyed.

“No worries. You'll get her back in two days. We'll see in Omega,” the merc stated. Murray turned around and walked to the elevator. He clearly didn't like the old man.

“He should really take that stick from his ass. You're sure you wouldn't rather work with me?”

“I'm tempted, Z, but I made a promise.”

“Yeah, yeah. Your God damn mum. Hell of a woman. She'd cut off my balls if you joined me.” 

“I might save you from that fate.”

“Your old man wouldn't be proud, either, if you followed in his footsteps. Now come here,” the man said opening his arms. Without any hesitation, Shepard jumped to his arms and gave him a kiss on his scarred cheek.

“Good to see you're still alive and kicking, Massani,” Plumply commented and walked over to the pair to shake the old merc's hand.

“I don't die that easily.”

“Z, these are the rest of my group. You saw McKenzie and Madison in my graduation. And then there's Smith. The drell is Araj. He's hitching a ride to Kahje with his hanar friend. Guys, this is Zaeed Massani, a bounty hunter, co-founder of the Blue Suns, and my uncle.”

Araj just stood there staring at the mercenary. He had recognized the old human the instant he saw him. The stories he had heard of Massani filled him with respect and trepidation. He wasn't exactly known for being a nice man. Araj had heard he had been shot in the face which was clearly true. Half of Massani's face looked like it had been reconstructed. 

“Now, when I still remember. I got you these,” Shepard said picking a small packet from her bag. 

“Damn girl! You know the way to an old merc's heart,” Massani smiled holding a packet of cigars.

Shepard laughed with a pleased smile. When she walked over to grab her bag and jacket, she noticed that Araj was holding the latter in his hand.

“Liz, are you sure about this? I've heard stories about him,” Araj said with a low voice.

“I'm sure. I'd give my life to his hands and have done so.”

“I don't trust him.”

“Then trust me. Think of it this way: the sooner I get this intel we need, the sooner we'll get to Kahje and to our shore leave. Which means we'll be able to get some privacy,” Shepard said with a voice that was full of promises.

She tossed her bag over her shoulder and snatched her jacket. Then the woman gave a wink to Araj whose mind was reeling with images that her words invoked.

“I believe it's time for you to get going.”

“Trying to get rid of me, lizard boy?”

“No, trying to get you off this ship and alone with me as soon as possible.”

Zaeed had walked over to the pair just to hear Araj's final words. His face turned condemning as he looked at the drell. Araj had seen that judgmental look before. Shepard had actually looked at him like that on the shuttle back from that damn planet. But unlike her, he didn't seem flirtatious or impressed. He looked more like a very protective father valuating his only daughter's date. The drell shifted tensely under his gaze. Massani took one step towards Araj snarling. To the drell's credit, he didn't flinch. The old merc gave a small crooked smile to Araj for standing his ground. As Zaeed turned to Shepard, he could hear how the drell behind him let out the breath he had been holding.

“We better get going, Liz. We have a long ride ahead of us and we have a lot of catching up to do,” Massani said giving a barely noticeable nod towards Araj.

Shepard just rolled her eyes and started to walk towards the merc's ship. Zaeed followed her but stopped to slap his hand on Plumpy's shoulder.

“You still owe me a drink for saving your ass. I better see you on Omega in a few days so I can collect.”

“Can do, Massani. You better keep her safe.”

“Her mother would gouge out my good eye if I let anything happen to her.”

Both men chuckled at the idea. Then the old man walked over to his ship and in a few moments the four humans and the drell were left standing in an empty shuttle bay watching as the small ship disappeared out of sight. They hoped that everything would go as planned and in a few days they'd have Shepard back onboard.

The next two days dragged on. The routines continued but the ground team was quieter than usually. They bantered like they always did but it was obvious to everyone that they were missing Shepard. And it didn't help that Araj told them about the stories he had heard of Massani. It only made the humans concerned for her safety, everyone but Plumply. The commander had first-hand experience on how much the old mercenary cared for Shepard. He wouldn't let anything happen to her.

On the third day after their departure, Captain Murray informed them that they would be heading to Omega. Shepard had called for a pick up. Apparently the mission was successful. Plumply and his crew were to meet her in a nightclub called Afterlife.

“Have you ever been to Omega, Matt?” Araj asked after hearing of their assignment.

“Not yet.”

“I recommend going in your armor.”

“Yeah, from what I've heard, I thought that might be the best course of action.”

“I would also like to offer my knowledge of the space station and work as your guide.”

“Guide, huh?”

“Yes.”

“This wouldn´t have anything to do with the fact that we're picking up Liz?”

“Why would it?”

“Oh please, we all know you're trying to get into her pants.”

“Her pants? Why would I want to wear women's clothing?”

“Don't try that. You know perfectly well what I mean.”

“Fine. Yeah, I want to get her in bed or up against the wall. Can you blame me?”

“No. I think most the soldiers here want to do those things but the Alliance doesn't look kindly on fraternization.”

“How lucky that I'm not an Alliance soldier. So, can I come?”

“I have a feeling I wouldn't be able to stop you even if I said no. Come on.”

When the Dreadnought docked the four men of the ground team along with Araj disembarked. After a few instructions from the drell they made their way to Afterlife. The soldiers were slightly distracted by the loud music and scantily dressed asari dancers. Plumply looked around the nightclub but couldn't see Shepard. He could, on the other hand, see Massani lounging in one of the booths with an asari giving him a lap dance. The commander gave a sign to his men and they headed to the old mercenary.

“She's at the bar,” Massani said before Plumply could ask anything. “You might as well sit down to wait. Except you, Mark, you can head to the bar and get me that double whiskey you owe me.”

Plumply walked to the bar as the other humans sat down, staring the asari on Massani's lap. Araj kept his eyes on the bar hoping to see Shepard. He didn't have to wait long. She was walking towards their booth with Plumply and the eyes of almost every man and woman followed her. Shepard was dressed in form hugging, off the shoulders, deep red dress that barely contained her breasts and ended mid-thigh. She had thigh-length boots that had buckles running on the side. Her hair was flowing freely and almost reached the top her buttocks. Araj could hardly breathe at the sight of her. When the three soldiers at the booth gave catcalls he wasn't able to contain the low menacing rumble that vibrated through him.

“Hi guys. Missed me?”

“Would have missed even more if we had known you own something like that,” Madison remarked leering at her figure.

“And this isn't the only dress in this style I own,” Shepard said smiling. “Hey, Matt. How long do we have until we have to be onboard?”

“At tops, a few hours. We were prepared to wait for awhile,” the commander informed while passing the whiskey to Massani.

“Good. I got you all a gift to celebrate your first time on Omega. You guys can enjoy that when I go to get my stuff from the apartment.”

“I'll join you,” Araj stated quickly, not wanting her to go anywhere alone dressed like that.

“Thought you might,” Shepard remarked with a crooked smile. Then she waved her hand to someone. Four beautiful asari dancers appeared at her side.

“Have fun guys.” The four soldiers stared with their mouths hanging open when the asari climbed on their laps and started dancing.

“You're the best, Shep!” shouted Madison looking like a kid at Christmas.

Shepard grabbed Araj's hand and started dragging him out of the club.

“What's the rush?” the drell asked.

“It depends. We could have close to two hours of privacy in an apartment without cameras or we could just stay here and drink with the guys. It's up to you.”

Araj stopped suddenly by the entrance when her words sank. “You mean…?”

“You didn't think I wore this dress for the guys, did you?” Shepard said in a husky voice before leaning in and running her tongue over his frills. Araj growled and grabbed her ass to pull her close.

“Where's the apartment?”

“Not far.”

“Move. Now!”

From the booth Massani's gaze followed the pair as they left. Shepard had told him about the drell and it was clear to anyone that they wanted each other. He knew why she got the asari for him and the soldiers. He also knew that her parents, especially her mother, wouldn't have approved casual sex, but the old mercenary had been around long enough to realize that sometimes you just needed to get laid. Grinning at the asari grinding herself on him, Massani got a feeling that Shepard wouldn't be the only one getting some action tonight.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, there will be smut

The apartment was about fifteen minutes’ walk from Afterlife. Shepard and Araj were almost jogging trying to get there as soon as possible. When Shepard opened the door Araj wasted no time before pushing her against the wall and crushing his lips on hers. The kiss deepened quickly as their hands were wandering on each other’s bodies, desperately trying to be everywhere. Realizing something Shepard pushed him slightly to get some air.

“The door,” she said out of breath. “Close it.”

Reaching to his side, Araj closed the door and then he turned his attention back to Shepard, who was tearing his jacket off. After the jacket hit the ground, he pulled his shirt off as well. Shepard's eyes moved over his bare skin until he pinned her against the wall again. With her left hand she pulled Araj for another kiss and with her right she moved his hand to her thigh. The feeling of his scales moving against her skin caused her to sigh into their kiss. Araj growled softly and started to hitch Shepard’s dress higher. His growling increased when he realized she wasn't wearing any underwear.

“I thought they'd only be in the way,” the woman said in a husky tone as the drell's hands were moving to cup her backside.

Araj didn't say a word, just turned her around until she was facing the wall. He slowly opened the zipper on her dress. The skin, that was revealed, made him lick his lips. He had planned to take his time, but it was getting harder and harder for him to stop himself from just bending her over and taking her. Shepard's dress slipped down to her feet and she stepped out of it. Araj brushed his hands from her shoulders to her hips and nibbled her neck. Shepard sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder. With his knee Araj spread the her thighs enough to slip his hand between her legs.

“Looks like you've been waiting for me,” Araj said smugly feeling how wet Shepard was.

“Seems I'm not the only one who has been waiting for this,” Shepard teased while pushing her backside against the bulge in his pants. Araj instinctively started rocking his hips against her bottom. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold back much longer but he wanted her to be ready for him. His other hand started circling her opening as the other caressed and squeezed her breasts. Feeling Araj's fingers near her areolas she pressed her chest against his hand, wordlessly begging him to use more force while touching her breasts. He happily obliged realizing she wouldn't be afraid to ask for something she wanted. He approved this because he never did like his women timid. Encouraged, he pushed his fused fingers inside her, which caused Shepard to moan. Keeping a steady rhythm, Araj moved his fingers while the woman in his arms started to pant.

“Araj, please.”

“Tell me what you want,” Araj ordered while pinching her nipple.

“You, dammit.”

“You're going to have to be more specific.” 

“I want you to stop teasing and fuck me. I need to feel you.”

“Are you calling me a tease?”

“You're still wearing the rest of your clothes. So yes, I think you're a tease,” Shepard repeated the drell's words from their first make out session.

“That can be easily corrected.” Araj pulled out his fingers and stepped away from her. He licked his fingers clean, humming at the taste, and continued to strip the rest of his clothes. Shepard had turned around and was watching Araj discard his clothing. Her eyes roamed over his crimson scales and black stripes. He was well built and his muscles were highly defined. It was the body of a fighter, she thought. By the time he was naked, she was staring at his freed erection with a cheeky smile.

“What?”

“It almost looks like your stripes are arrows guiding to the good stuff.”

“You have no idea how good the stuff is,” Araj replied with a seductive wink. “Yet.”

He pushed Shepard back against the wall and kissed her. As their tongues dueled for dominance, he lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Araj felt her wet opening against the tip of his cock and couldn't wait anymore. He pushed inside her and they both moaned at the long waited connection. Araj rested his head against her shoulder in the hopes of calming himself so he wouldn't ravish her. The feeling of being hilted inside of her was exquisite; he would definitely have to do this again. When the drell felt in control again, he looked at Shepard who was biting her lower lip.

“I thought you were going to stop teasing me,” she said squeezing her inner muscles. Araj groaned at the feeling of her tightening around him and the last of his self-control snapped. He grasped her hips tightly enough to leave marks and started to move inside her with increasing pace.

“You're so fucking tight.”

The drell knew he wouldn't be able to take it much longer. It had been too long since he had slept with a woman. Shepard's heat and sighs were bringing him closer to the edge. With a few more thrusts he emptied inside her.

“Fuck,” he said out of breath.

“I guess now you'll be easier to win when sparring,” Shepard remarked caressing Araj's frills.

“Not a chance. I'll still kick your asses any day,” the drell said, slowly pulling out his still erected member. “But we'll talk about that later. I'm not done with you yet.” He picked her in his arms and carried her towards the sofa.

“You do know there is a bedroom here too.”

“Too far away.” Araj put her down gently next to the sofa and stroked her leather incased legs. “I really like these boots of yours. Especially when you're not wearing anything else.”

“Really? Any reason as to why?”

“Because it makes you just the right height.” He turned her around swiftly and bend her enough so that she could support herself by leaning on the back rest of the sofa. Her surprised gasp turned into a lustful cry when he entered her again. Shepard was starting to understand what the drell had meant when he had talked about his stamina and she was loving it. Araj started a leisurely pace. Shepard tried to push her hips back to get him to pick up his speed but he would have none of it. 

“Stop that,” Araj said giving her a soft slap on the ass. “We'll do this at my way or not at all.”

The woman stopped moving and looked him over her shoulder. “You're going to make me beg for it, aren't you? Since I made you wait.”

“Well, I'm not opposed to you begging but that is not my intention this time. I just want to take my time. We've both waited for this.” As he said that, he moved one of his hands to her front and started to stroke the bundle of nerves that would make her moan. Araj's scales caused more friction than a human's hands ever could so it didn't take him long to have Shepard crying out his name. 

“Araj, don't stop. Please, don't stop.” As if he had any intention of stopping.

When Araj felt her starting to shake and convulse around him, he gave up any pretense of control and snapped his hips against her faster trying to prolong her orgasm. The sound of scales smacking against skin echoed in the room accompanied by Shepard screaming out her orgasm. The feeling of her shattering made him finish as well for the second time that night. As Araj could feel himself going soft, he pulled out and let go of Shepard's hips. The moment he let go, she crumpled on the sofa.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. I just can't stand. You fucked me off my feet.”

“And this was a quick fuck. Just imagine what I would do to you if we had more time.”

“Oh trust me, I will.”

“Come on. I'll help you to the shower.”

“Help me out off these boots first.”

Araj kneeled next to her and started to open the buckles on her shoes. When they were able to get the boots of he helped her up and walked to the shower with her.

“Ahh, private shower. I've missed this,” the drell said as the water rained on him.

“I can leave if you want the shower completely to yourself.”

“You're not going anywhere.” Araj snatched Shepard's arm and pulled her flat against his body. “I promised to show you how good I am with my hands.”

The drell kissed Shepard softly and then turned to get some soap. Gently he cleaned her body paying special attention to her bottom and breasts. After washing the soap off her, Araj grabbed a towel and dried her. Shepard felt so pampered when he then brushed her hair.

“What did I do to deserve this kind of treatment?” Shepard asked looking at Araj through the mirror.

“What do you mean?” He said putting the brush down.

“Men don't usually treat me like this.”

“This is how any woman should be treated.”

“Coming from a man who fucked me against the wall.”

“There are many ways to treat a woman and awhile back we both needed sex.”

“Can't deny that.”

“Now, how about I continue my demonstration?”

“This wasn't it?”

Araj just smiled and lifted her to the bathroom table. He kissed Shepard while caressing her breasts. Then he dipped his head and took her nipple into his mouth and sucked causing her to inhale sharply. Shepard's hand snaked behind his head and she pulled him even closer. The drell suckled her for awhile, switching between breasts and giving soft nibbles every now and then, before kissing his way down. Kneeling in front of the woman, Araj gave her a wink. Without asking she spread her legs and he took the opportunity to run his hands along her inner thighs. His lips and tongue followed his hands and Shepard started to pant lightly. Right before touching her sensitive parts, he stopped.

“Promise me something.”

“What? Now?! I can hardly think straight.”

“I could stop if it helps.”

“No! Sure, I promise whatever it is.”

“Okay, try not to squeeze the life out of me, when I do this.”

“Why would I squeeze the life out of you?”

“I remember Mark telling you would do so when you get someone’s head between your legs.”

Shepard laughed so hard she almost fell from the table. Araj decided to turn the situation back on the right track so he flicked her clit with his tongue. The laughter stopped immediately when she gasped. He was surprised that she didn't really taste like anything but assumed it was because of the shower. On the other hand, he knew exactly what to do so he could taste her intoxicating flavor again. 

With renewed purpose Araj started to lick and gently nibble Shepard's tender flesh. She grasped the back of his head and rocked her hips against his mouth. When he pushed his fused fingers inside her, she moaned and dropped her head back. Araj was rubbing his fingers against that special spot inside her faster and faster. When he could feel her channel tightening he stopped immediately and removed his lips from her body. Shepard looked at him in disbelief at his abrupt action. With a wicked smile, Araj waited for her body to calm down a bit before continuing his previous activity. Again he brought her to the edge and, again, he stopped.

“For fuck's sake! You're a fucking tease.” 

“Such language. I love it when you talk dirty.”

“Could you please continue? I'm almost there.”

Araj didn't bother with an answer, just continued his ministration. Moments before she came, her omnitool started flashing, informing that she had an incoming call. She checked quickly who was calling. It was Plumply. Shepard knew she would have to answer it. 

“Make it quick, Matt. I'm in the middle of something here,” Shepard nearly growled at the man, all the while getting closer and closer to the edge as Araj decided that this time he wouldn't stop.

“The Captain ordered us to return. We have to be back at the ship in twenty. We'll meet you guys at the docks. So hurry up and finish, will you?” Plumply said barely able to contain his laughter.

“What the fuck do you think we're trying to do?!” Shepard screamed to his commanding officer and disconnected the call. 

At that moment Araj pressed his lips around her clit and sucked causing her to orgasm. She arched her back, screaming his name and squeezing her thighs around his head. After she calmed down, she released her hold of his head allowing him to stand up.

“You're okay, Liz?”

“Definitely. Where the hell did you learn that? You said you've never been with a human.”

“You think oral sex is a human thing only. It's a rather universal thing. It's true that I've never been with a human so I had to check a few things, but luckily Fornax has a large collection of images and videos.”

“You learned from them?”

“Eidetic memory. I remember everything perfectly. Just as I'm going to remember everything from today perfectly. It will help to adjust a few things for the next time.”

“You sound pretty damn sure that there's going to be a next time.”

“Damn right I am. There's still that shore leave of yours on Kahje,” Araj said circling Shepard with his arms before leaning down and kissing her. “We should probably get going before the others come and get us.”

“To hell with them. I feel way too good to move,” Shepard said but jumped down from the table to clean herself.

They were both used to getting ready quickly so it didn't take them long to be dressed and on their way towards the docks. The four Alliance soldiers were waiting for them along with Massani close to the Dreadnought's docking bay. The men didn't say anything but their smirking faces said everything. 

“Yeah, yeah. I'd like to say that you guys had as much fun as we did but that's not likely,” Shepard said as the couple walked to the rest of the group. The old merc shook his head at her comment. She sure wasn't like her mum.

“Are we ready to head back to the ship?” Plumply asked.

“Almost,” Shepard said and went to hug Massani. ”Bye, Z. I'm gonna miss you.”

“Same here, Liz. I'll do my best to stay in touch,” the old man said before turning his attention to Araj. “You hurt her in any way and I will make sure you will never be seen again.”

“Yes, sir. Don't worry. You don't have to kill me.”

“Who said anything about killing? You'll live but you'd never see anyone but me again.”

“Z! Leave him alone. If he hurts me, I'll kick his ass myself.”

“That's my girl,” Massani said with a smile and then he gave her one more hug and a kiss on her cheek before disappearing to the crowd.

The ground crew and Araj headed back to the Dreadnought where they would pass on the intel to the Captain. After that it would be off to Kahje and shore leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I write a lot because of my profession, but nothing like this. Henceforth this has to be one of the most awkward chapters to write, ever. Not to mention having one of my best friends to beta this.... The sheer amount of blushing on my part :D
> 
> Because I have never written smut before I would love to get some feedback


	12. Chapter 12

The group walked back to the ship and headed straight to the elevator. Shepard was still in that obscene dress and was gathering looks from the male crewmembers they came across. Araj glared at the men, snarling. 

“Liz, you go and report to Murray. We got to take our gear to the armory”, Plumply ordered.

“Sure thing.”

Shepard stepped into the elevator as the other soldiers strolled to the armory. To her surprise Araj followed her. As the doors closed he wasted no time in taking off his jacket. 

“You do know that there are cameras in here?” Shepard asked looking at the drell, amused. Her look changed to confused when Araj handed the jacket to her.

“Yes, but that is for you. You'll be wearing it.”

“Why?”

“I don't think it's appropriate for you to walk around the ship dressed like that.”

“And here I thought you liked my dress.”

“I do. Very much so. But it doesn't mean that I want everyone to see you in it.”

“Look. Just because we had sex, it doesn't mean you can start telling me what to wear.”

“Damn it, woman! I'm trying to ask this nicely. Will you please just wear this?”

“Fine,” Shepard said sounding frustrated. She put on his leather jacket and turned towards the lift's door. His smell floated from the jacket and overwhelmed her. The musky scent reminded her of their rendezvous an hour ago and it was making it hard to think straight. Araj stared at her, confused.

“Babe, did I upset you? I didn't mean to. I just… Shit. I don't know how to act in a situation like this. To be honest I usually just leave after sex. Relationships aren't really suitable for this line of work.”

“Hold on! Who said anything about a relationship? I thought we just had sex?”

“Wait. You're not expecting a relationship?”

“No! If you haven't noticed, I'm on the same line of work as you.”

“Oh. I was under the assumption that women want to have a relationship after sex.”

“I would assume that most women do. Me, I'll just settle for another round of mind-blowing sex. You still haven't shown me the effects of that venom of yours,” Shepard laughed with a wink. Araj didn't really know what to say. He was relieved, but if he was completely honest with himself, also a bit disappointed. Shepard was an impressive woman and understood his work; he might even be willing to have a relationship with her. On the other hand, if she really felt this way, it might give him an opportunity to try a few things he had discussed with a friend of his. She didn't seem to be as uptight about sex as some women he knew.

“You're honestly okay with us just having random sex?”

“Well, yeah. I never thought you'd want more than that, so I'm not expecting anything more.”

The elevator arrived to its destination and Shepard stepped out. Murray was already waiting for her. She turned to Araj before going for debriefing.

“Are we okay?”

“Sure, Liz. I'll see you when you're done.”

As the elevator's doors closed, Araj could see Shepard talking to the Captain. He leaned his head against the wall and lost himself to a memory of her. He almost groaned out loud at the thought of her warmth surrounding his length. His name slipping from her lips in the midst of moaning. To have those same lips wrapped around him. Araj was becoming emerged into his fantasy, when he heard an all too familiar voice. 

“This one is waiting to be back on Kahje.”

Araj snapped back into reality and reached for his sidearm. He hadn't noticed when the elevator had stopped and Zameld had entered. He had to stop daydreaming and focus. Perplexed assassin easily ends up dead.

“Yeah, it will be nice to have a break.”

“This one has made a request to the Illuminated Primacy and the Alliance.”

“A request?”

“Yes. This one believes it might be beneficial to have humans, hanars, and drells training with each other. There is much to learn from each other.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“This one has also recommended that you and the ship's ground team would be a part of an exchange program that would commence this liaison.”

“Me?!”

“This one has noticed your and the human female's friendship. This one believes it can be used to help this collaboration.”

“Really? And what did they say about your request?”

“This one has yet to hear from them. Hopefully they will decide by the time we reach Kahje.”

“Let's hope so. Considering that humans and drells are quite new races among the stars it would be beneficial for us to learn together and from each other.”

“This one is glad you agree. This one also recommends that you do some groundwork so the humans on this ship would agree.”

“Sure. I'll get right on it,” Araj said as he stepped off the elevator and headed to the crew quarters to change his leathers. Peeling off his pants he thought about Zameld's idea. It did have several good prospects. They really could learn a lot from each other. And this would mean he would be able to spend more time with Shepard. And that was reason enough for him to like the idea.

“And there is that fine ass of yours again,” came amused voice from the door. Araj turned around with his trousers on his hand and looked at the smirking Shepard, who was still wearing his jacket. She looked good in it and it really accentuated her cleavage. Without a second thought he walked over to her and pushed her against the wall. Her legs wrapped themselves around his waist as he attacked her neck with his lips. Shepard clawed at his back and sighed his name softly. They were so absorbed in each other that the pair didn't hear the door open.

“Not that we don't enjoy the show, but we have to sleep in this room and it might be easier if you guys didn't fill it with your sex stench,” Madison said with the rest of the guys standing next to him laughing. “Besides, didn't you two already screw each other on Omega?”

“So?” Araj commented and turned back to Shepard. “Human males really don't have enough stamina to go more than two rounds?”

“Oh please. Most can't get past one,” Shepard remarked smiling.

“Hey! That's just mean!” Madison piped. The couple just laughed as they separated and, with the four soldiers, continued to change to their normal clothing. The room was filled with jokes and ambiguous comments. Everyone was waiting for the shore leave and the men were asking Araj about places to go. They already figured that they probably wouldn't see much of Shepard and Araj after they landed on Kahje. And who would blame them. They would do the same if they had a chance to get laid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I've been struggling with writing this summer. I've had zero motivation. If anyone still wants to read this, let me know. And thank you for anyone who actually has read this.
> 
> On a more cheerfull note, my beta has created an account to ao3. Check out some her writing under the name ElvenSister. And no, we are not actuall sisters. We are just called sister, twisted sisters at that.


	13. Chapter 13

The Dreadnought landed near one of the domes that held the cities of Kahje. Most of the crew had never been to the hanar homeworld before so they were excited. Not to mention that captain Murray had declared a week long shore leave. No one really knew why but none of them was willing to ask and jinx it.

“The rain reminds me of home,” McKenzie remarked to the other members of his team after they had cleared the shore leave inspection and had gotten their instruction to 'behave and not cause a political incident'. 

“Well, this will be fun for you, then. It always rains on Kahje,” Araj said looking around irritated. “I really don't like this place.”

“Don't like the rain?”

“Probably not; drell are originally from an arid world. Being saved by the hanar was a good thing, but all this water causes problems for their lungs,” Shepard said carrying her duffel bag.

“How the hell do you know that?” Madison questioned as he tried to find the instructions to their hotel.

“Murray ordered Araj to tell me about different worlds and species.”

“Yeah, but I thought you guys spent all that time making kissy-faces.”

“Kissy-faces?” the drell asked looking confused.

“Don't mind him. He's an idiot. Now, is there some place we can dump our stuff and maybe get something to eat after that? I don't know about any of you but I really, really want some food that hasn't been dehydrated or mushed to paste,” the woman stated looking around hopefully, probably trying to locate a restaurant.

“Yes. Food. Real food,” McKenzie said shortly. You could hear his stomach growling as an emphasis.

“How about this: we take our gear to the hotel and you guys take yours where ever you two are going to spent this week, and then we meet at the hotel and go get something to eat together before you two disappear to some room and hump your brains out?” Plumply suggested looking at Shepard and Araj. 

“I knew there was a reason why they made you a Commander. They don't give those promotions if you don't know how to make solid plans,” Shepard laughed. The group agreed to meet in front of the hotel in one hour and then split up, the men headed towards their hotel and Shepard and Araj took a transport to his apartment. 

“Why do you keep a place of your own if you don't like being here?”

“It actually belongs to me and a friend of mine. Neither of us tends to stay here for long periods of time but we have to come here fairly regularly. So we figured we might get a small place where we might actually be safe during our stay.”

“Is your friend on Kahje now?”

“Surprisingly yes, but he's on another dome. Don't worry about him. He's like me. I'm sure you'll get along.”

“So, he's a sexy teaser who’s very good with his hands?”

“I haven't really looked at him like that, so I wouldn't know. I meant that he's in the same line of work and laid back. He works as a freelancer and spends quite a lot of time off world.”

“So why is he here now?”

“Apparently he got injured and came here for some treatments.”

“Injured? Badly?”

“You'll see. He said he's coming around tonight.”

“Tonight? And here I was hoping to have some time alone with you.”

“Don't worry about that. We most definitely are going to have some time alone. The rooms are sound-proofed.”

They stopped in front of a modest-looking apartment complex. After Araj had paid their ride, they made their way to his place. Araj's flat was a large living room/kitchen and three bedrooms with en-suites. One of the bedrooms had been converted into a gym which looked like it was the most used room in the entire apartment. 

“It's not much but it serves its purpose,” Araj explained looking slightly embarrassed.

“There are no cameras, so it's perfect for what I have in mind,” Shepard practically purred as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“I like the way you think and I actually have a few ideas I need to run by you involving that, but that's for later. We need to get changed and meet the guys. I have a plan where to take all of you,” he said before laying a soft kiss on her lips.

“Not that the food doesn't sound good, but I'm a tad curious about those ideas you mentioned,” she teased caressing his ribbing with her fingers.

“Don't worry. We'll get to those later. Come on. We can leave our stuff in my room and I still want to change my clothes.”

“Fine. Any preference for my outfit?”

“Yeah, don't wear that dress. I'd have to fight every male in the restaurant.”

Shepard just laughed at his comment and pulled some clothes from her bag. She changed her uniform to jeans, heels, and tank top. Araj rummaged through his closet and took out a fresh pair of leather pants and a sleeveless vest. 

“You're wearing that?” Shepard asked staring at the drell's bare chest. Araj had left the vest open and it showed off his arms and abs magnificently.

“You got something against my outfit?”

“Not a thing, sexy. I just think I might have hard time keeping my hands off you.”

“So, my plan is working,” Araj flirted. “Come on, we don't wanna be late.”

The couple called for another transport and headed to the hotel, where the rest of the ground team was waiting for them dressed in civvies. Araj guided them to a nice-looking restaurant that seemed to have a very motley clientele. Among the drell and hanar customers you could see species from all around the Council space.

“This place serves to all the different species, so everyone should be able to find something to eat. Just stay away from the dextro-menu,” Araj explained as they sat down next to a group of voluses. “There's also a great club next door.”

“Not bad. The view's great,” Madison commented watching few asari walk by their table.

“I don't see any female drell around,” Smith said.

“Yeah, probably won't see many of them. The females tend to stay in the drell neighborhoods and with their families. Our species was originally a patriarchy, but after the hanar saved us most things changed. Most, but not all. Some things take time and being overprotective about females is one of them.”

“Well, that explains a few things,” Plumply remarked as the waiter came to take their order. After he left the conversation continued.

“What did you mean by that?” Shepard asked.

“Come on. You saying you haven't noticed? Araj starts growling and his fists twitch every time a man looks at you appreciatively or talks to you for awhile. He's like a jealous boyfriend,” Plumply commented with rest of the men nodding around.

“Can you blame me? I mean, look at her,” the drell smiled and pushed a strand of Shepard's hair behind her ear.

“And he knows that he isn't my boyfriend. I just use him for the great sex that goes on and on and on all night long,” Shepard smirked wiggling her eyebrows as Araj laughed next to her.

“Way too much info! I need a drink,” Madison announced. “And, if I remember correctly, Smith owes us.”

By the time their food actually arrived most of them had already had a few drinks and were chatting lively. But that stopped when they dug into their dishes. They hadn't had a decent meal in ages, so they weren't wasting any time. Araj chuckled to himself when the humans kept asking for seconds as if they were starving. After everyone had finished the cook came by to ask if they had any receipts for human foods they might like. The owner took pride that every specie could find some native food at the restaurant. Unfortunately they rarely had humans as customers, so now was the perfect opportunity to ask around and widen their menu. Surprisingly, Smith ended up giving all the advices. Apparently he was quite a cook himself. Probably because his father was a professional chef. 

Eventually the culinary course ended and the group headed to the club. It was mainly drell, asari and a few turians. They also noticed a few of their crew members in one of the booths. Araj whispered a few hints to the other men before they headed towards a group of asari. The drell sat down to an empty seat and Shepard snuggled next to him.

“Are you trying to get them laid?”

“Just thought they should have some fun, too,” Araj said wrapping his arm around her and gave her a quick kiss.

“That felt nice. Got any more?” Shepard asked turning towards him. He just smiled and leaned for another kiss. This time, though, he deepened the kiss and was about to pull her into his lap when they heard a cough. As Shepard turned her head towards the interrupter, she saw another drell, dressed similarly as Araj. This one’s coloring was different, though. He was a mixture of yellow and red with orange stripes; it almost looked like he was on fire.

“You want something?” Shepard questioned the unknown drell.

“I was just wondering if I could bother my roommate long enough for him to get me the drink he owes me,” the drell said looking amused. Araj gave a low growl.

“Tore, you're interrupting. Piss off.”

“Hell no. You owe me a drink. So why don't you go and get it while I keep company to your lady friend?” the orange drell said with a cheeky smile. Araj stood up looking annoyed, but his expression quickly changed to amused as the two drell grasped each other’s forearms. 

“Good to see you again. How's your injury?”

“Not bad. They healed it well. Unfortunately the scarring is extensive. Probably have to switch to krogan females. They like scars, don't they?” 

“Not that I'm complaining about the two sexy half-naked guys in front of me, but I feel slightly left out,” the woman said looking at the two men.

“Right. Liz, this is Tore Vaivure, a friend of mine. Tore, this is Alice Shepard, Alliance.”

“I'm his only friend,” Tore sniggered as he shook Shepard’s hand. He sat down next to her when Araj walked towards the bar to get some drinks. “So, how did you two meet?”

“Me and my crew saved his scaly ass from a random planet where his ship crashed because of some slavers.”

“Only Araj is lucky enough to be saved by someone like you. I guess I should do more missions with him.”

“You work for the same contacts?”

“Nope. Freelancer. Have been for years. I'm not nice enough or polite enough to work with the hanar.”

“Their standards can't be that high, if they still work with Araj.”

“I'm hurt, babe,” the aforementioned drell said carrying three drinks to their table. He sat down and pulled Shepard away from Tore and into his lap.

“Aww… I'll make it up to you later,” Shepard whispered to Araj. His hand slipped under her shirt to stroke her back as she fondled his ridges.

“Still here guys, and feeling increasingly awkward,” Tore mumbled under his breath.

“Can't you just go and get yourself a woman of your own?” Araj grunted.

“I could, but I can wait. It's always amusing to make you squirm.”

“Fine, we'll go. Liz, why don't you sent a message to the guys so they know that we left. And Tore, see you later.”

“Sure thing. Nice meeting you, Liz,” Tore said lifting his glass to them. “See you guys in the morning.”

“Maybe. I've been promised a taste of drell venom, so might not be completely lucid for awhile,” Shepard informed as she stood up and wrapped her arm around Araj's waist.

“Really? Having doubts about your talents there, buddy?”

“Oh, there's nothing wrong with his talents. Trust me. Sometimes you just want to try new stuff,” Shepard smiled. She completely missed the look the two men shared.

“Keep that thought.” Araj's voice had dropped several octaves.

“Agreed. I like the way you think,” Tore purred with a sly look on his face. He slowly licked his lips giving Shepard a once-over.

“We're going to head back. We'll continue this conversation later,” the red drell said as he guided her towards the door.

“Absolutely,” Tore's voice could be heard behind them as he went to order another drink.


	14. Chapter 14

Araj closed the door to his room behind him and watched as Shepard discarded her clothes. The long, toned legs and sculpted back were crisscrossed with faint lines. He knew they were old scars from her past. She had never told what had caused them but he had understood it was something she wasn’t too keen on talking about. Plumply had told him that it had something to do with Massani being so protective of her. He was a bit curious but knew better than to push her for answers. Besides, right now, he had something else than talking in mind.

“So, you're sure you can handle everything I have planned, Liz?” 

“That sounded like a challenge. I never back down from a challenge.”

“Just making sure you know the risks. Everyone reacts to our venom differently, I can't predict how long it will affect you.”

“Araj, I take risks for living. Now come here and give me a kiss.”

He walked over to her with a lopsided grin and wrapped his arms around her. Shepard lifted her hand behind his head and pulled him down slightly to claim his lips. Araj gently licked her lower lip and as she opened her mouth, he wrapped his tongue with hers. She let out a surprised sound and pulled back licking her lips.

“Sweet.”

“Not all venom tastes bad,” Araj said smiling coyly and kissed her again. 

Shepard pushed his vest off and then ran her hands on his sides. As she slowly dug her blunt nails right above his hip bone, Araj let out a low rumbling before dislodging her hands. Quietly he told her to lie down on the bed and leave everything to him. She stretched herself down and lifted her hands above her head to grab the headboard. He just lifted his eye ridge at this sign of trust before giving a reassuring nod.

Without breaking eye contact Araj slowly removed the rest of his clothing. He walked over to the bed and ran his hands along her legs. She shivered slightly and got goosebumps. Her responsiveness to his touch always amazed him. Not to mention that the venom made her even more sensitive. She had no idea what she was in for.

Her eyes followed him as he gently caressed her legs, first with his hands and then with his lips. His scales scraped her skin in the best possible way and she couldn't hold back her sighs and soft moans. When Araj ran his tongue over her hipbone, she closed her eyes in an effort to stay still. Shepard could feel him laugh against her skin because of her reaction. A small sting informed her that he had sucked a hickey and she smiled at the idea of being marked by him. She would definitely have to reciprocate somehow.

Slowly he moved higher and closed his lips on her nipple. He took it carefully between his teeth and flicked it with his rough tongue. This time Shepard couldn't stay still as she arched her chest towards him. He squeezed her other breast with his hand and circled the center with his thumb. She was already panting and biting her lip to keep herself quiet. But Araj would have none of that.

“Don't hold back. I want to hear those delicious sounds from your lips. The gasps, when I find a sweet spot, and the moans, when I'm driving you closer to the edge. The pleas, when you can't take it anymore.”

His throaty voice was thick with lust and the sound went straight to between her legs.

“Araj…”

“That's more like it.” He brought his other hand to her neck so he could slightly angle her head and nibbled on her earlobe. “Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to concentrate during the day when I remember what you sound like when I touch you? How much I would like to tear your clothes off and make you moan again? To push you against the wall and bury myself inside you?”

The images he conjured in her mind, along with his hardness pressed against her thigh, caused her to moan out loud wantonly. He had done nothing but touch her and yet Shepard could feel that she wouldn't be able to take this teasing much longer. As much as she loved foreplay, she was ready for the main course. But not without some payback. With quick movement she flipped them over and was now straddling him. 

“My turn.”

Shepard leaned down to run her tongue over the ribbing on his neck. A low rumble could be heard. Shepard had always liked the way drell make deep voices that make their bodies almost vibrate and she was pleased that Araj didn't suppress them around her as so many turians did with their second voice boxes. It's true she couldn't understand most of their meaning, but why should people try to conform to stereotypical ideas of acceptable behavior. To both drell and turians it was natural to create sounds that some might find primitive. They did this especially when they got excited or agitated. Personally Shepard found that slightly primal behavior a turn-on. So she was determined to get as much of those sounds out of him as possible. And she had just the idea to achieve that.

She sat up and traced his stripes with her fingers.

“Do you have any idea how gorgeous and sexy you are? I mean, God damn. I just want to tie you down, lick every inch of you, and then ride you raw.”

Araj froze. She definitely was his kind of woman. His hands moved along her thighs to grab her ass as the rumble grew louder. Shepard took hold of his hands and pushed them above his head.

“I said that it's my turn. Now, you stay still and let me have my wicked way with you.”

He gave a chuckle but left his hands where she had put them. Then she let go and continued to move her hands on his body. Just like he had done earlier, she now followed her hands with her lips and gave him a gentle bite every now and then. Shepard slowly moved lower and lower, teasing him the best she could. 

After giving a bite to his inner thigh, she looked up to see him staring at her. At some point, he had moved few of the pillows behind his back to get a good look at what she was doing. She gave him a wicked smile and looked straight into his eyes as she caressed the side of his dick with her lips. He was practically shaking from the effort of controlling himself. And Shepard was thoroughly enjoying her control, not to mention the fact that he looked like he was just about to lose control. Araj was staring at her intently and breathing heavily through clenched teeth. She licked the little bit of precum that had leaked and purred.

“Liz…” Araj's voice was hardly recognizable as it was almost completely drowned out by his rumbling.

With that as her mark, she closed her lips around him and sucked. Araj let out a loud growl. He was barely able to keep his hands still but that resolution went out the window when she took more of him in her mouth. He grasped her hair tightly into his fists without being able to stop himself from thrusting his hips upwards. Shepard immediately pressed her thumbs into his groin and he hissed in pain as he stopped moving. 

“Could you try and stay still? I haven't done this in a while and I'm not sure I can hold off my gag reflex if you start fucking me in my mouth. Wouldn't want to chump down your man parts.”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry. It just feels unbelievable,” Araj said apologetically. He forced himself to calm down again but didn't remove his hands. 

As Shepard engulfed him again, he closed his eyes and lost himself to the sensation. Feeling her take him and start to move really tested his willpower. Araj couldn't help himself as he pulled her hair in order to control her movement, even a bit. He could feel the pressure building in his groin, it wouldn't take long now, and as much as he enjoyed her treatment, he wanted to be buried between her legs when he came. With this thought, he pulled her off his cock by her hair and then higher holding her waist until her heat was against his hardness. Moving his hands to her hips he raised her slightly and plunged himself to the hilt. Both of them moaned in unison at their connection.

“Now to give you a thorough demonstration of the effects of drell venom,” Araj grunted as he kept thrusting into her. He changed the angle just enough to hit that special rough spot inside her every time. It took only a few movements for her to start convulsing around him. With that he just flipped them around and really started to pound into her to prolong her orgasm. When she finally came down from her high, he slowed his movements to a casual pace. 

“What the hell was that?” Shepard asked with a shaky voice. 

“I didn't think you were a stranger to that feeling,” Araj quipped tautly while trying to hold his own release.

“Yeah, but that was something totally different. I don't usually come that easily.” Her voice rose as the drell moved his other hand to her center and started to rub her clit.

“More sensitive.” That was all Shepard got from his speech before her world shattered again. Araj moved a few more times before hilting himself and finding his own culmination. 

They both just laid there for a while catching their breath. Shepard was trying to help him calm down by gently stroking the side of his head, but didn't seem to realize that touching his ribbing did everything but calmed him. He could feel himself getting hard again at her touch. She was about to say something, when Araj turned her on all fours and pushed himself back inside her.

“If you're going to tease a man like that, you´d better be ready to deal with the consequences,” he whispered pulling her head closer to him by the hair.

“Bring it,” Shepard said looking over her shoulder, challenging him.

Araj snarled and placed his other hand to her shoulder for leverage and brought the other one in front of her to play with her clit again. He was going to make sure that she would remember tomorrow morning what challenging him caused. Even though he was slightly worried that he might be too rough, he believed that she could handle it. She said it herself, she took risks for living.

He let his instincts take over completely, threw his head back, and fucked her. And Shepard loved it. The venom had really kicked in by now and pretty much as long as he just kept moving inside her, she was having a constant orgasm. She screamed a litany of random words: Araj, God, fuck, don't stop, harder. That just edged him on and it didn't take him long to come for the second time. 

Shepard collapsed on the bed with a layer of sweat shining on her. Araj looked at her thoroughly fucked appearance and couldn’t help himself. He lifted one of her legs on his shoulder and positioned himself on her entrance again. She turned her wide-eyed look on him as she felt him pushing back into her. 

“I told you, we have more stamina than most species,” Araj said with a cocky grin. “Don't worry. I'll give you a break after this. Wouldn't want to wear you out on the first day.”

Shepard's head was reeling with the implication. They were going to have a week-long shore leave – was he actually planning on doing this every day? She might not be able to walk back to the Dreadnought. On the other hand, a week full of great sex, not a bad plan. That was her last thought as the drell buried himself balls deep into her. The feeling of being filled to the brim overpowered every other thought and pleasure took over.

After the both of them had found release again, Araj kept his promise and they took a break. He gently carried her to the bathroom and laid her down in the tub. Then he washed her and himself before carrying her back to bed and spooning her sleeping form.

In the morning Shepard woke up slightly sore, but totally satisfied. The thought of the previous night aroused her and that's when she became aware of the pressure against her backside. Araj was mumbling in his sleep and rocking his hips. Shepard bit her lip to hold back a moan at the memory of how that particular piece of anatomy felt inside her. She couldn't help herself. She carefully changed her position so that Araj wasn't anymore rocking against her but, instead, slipped between her legs and into her. This time she couldn't hold back the moan that had been building inside her since she woke up. That stirred Araj from his sleep and realizing that he was once again buried inside the woman next to him, he grasped hold of her hips and started to thrust into her. 

“Not a bad way to wake up. A beautiful woman using my body for her own pleasure,” Araj confessed nipping on her neck. 

Shepard wasn't in any state to make any kind of remark. It was clear, that the venom was still affecting her, and heightening her sensations. Araj took his time and, with slow and steady movements, brought them both to the edge and over it. Then he gave her a soft kiss on her head and told her to help herself for breakfast. He would go take a quick shower. As he disappeared to the bathroom, she pulled an oversized t-shirt on her, collected her hair into a messy bun, and padded to the kitchen. 

After getting some juice and something that sort of looked like toast, she settled to eat next to the counter, reading the extranet. When she felt a pair of hands settle on her hips and carefully make their way under the hem of her shirt, she leaned back against the bare chest. Closing her eyes, she wrapped her other hand around his neck and laughed lustfully.

“Insatiable, aren't you?”

“You have no idea.”


	15. Chapter 15

“You have no idea.”

That voice. Something sounded odd about it. Shepard twisted her body slightly to see, who it belonged to. The drell behind her wasn't the color of blood, but that of a flame. 

“Tore, you scared the shit out of me,” she said turning to face him.

“Can you blame me? That shirt of yours is barely decent and I do live here,” Tore responded with his hands still on her hips. He brought his face close to her neck and inhaled deeply. “Damn, there's nothing like the smell on a female's skin after sex. Too bad it's not my doing.”

With the last notion he let go of her and walked over to the fridge to get his own breakfast. He was only wearing boxers that looked like they were about to fall off his slim hips, so Shepard got a good look at his physique. Tore was about the same height as Araj and had nice muscles, but seemed skinnier, probably because of being off duty due to his injury. He had said last night at the club that the scarring was extensive, but it took her a while to realize what he had meant. Because drell have scales instead of skin, like humans, they scar differently. It looked like the new scales were slightly different color, their size varied a great deal, and there were some areas that probably would never have scales again, but most human’s wouldn't even notice it because of their lack of knowledge about drells. 

As Tore leaned to grab something from a lower shelf, he could hear an approving hum behind him. 

“Enjoying the view?” he asked before straightening and turning to Shepard.

“You really are like Araj,” she commented continuing with her interrupted breakfast as Tore joined her at the counter. 

“What do you mean?” 

“A flirt, who's very sure of himself, and has a nice ass.”

“Well, I don't know about him but it sure does sound like me.”

The pair stared at each other for a while before bursting out in laughter. They had known each other for less than a day but seemed to possess the same kind of sense of humor. Shepard was willing to admit that she liked the guy. 

“What got you two in a fit?” Araj asked as he appeared from his bedroom wearing slacks and nothing else.

“Oh, nothing. She was just telling me how much she likes my ass.”

“Of course she does. She has a weakness for asses. Just be careful, next she'll want to spank it.”

“I don't mind.”

“Hang on, fellows. True, I like a tight ass on a guy, but I don't spank them, not hard, anyway. I'm not into that sort of thing. Now, being spanked, well... that's whole other thing. “

Both drell turned to her upon hearing the smirk in her voice. She seemed to completely okay talking about spanking with two half naked drell while she was barely clad herself. 

“Where did you find her and can you get me one, too?”

“Didn't you already find someone last night and get lucky?”

“Yeah, but obviously not as lucky as you.” Tore said looking at Shepard's thoroughly fucked appearance. 

“Aww, feeling jealous?” Shepard teased.

“More like unsatisfied. I hooked up with an asari and she was way too into that mind melding thing. I prefer to be balls deep in the person I have sex with.”

“That does sound better.”

The group ate their breakfast while talking about different things: work, Kahje, their histories. Shepard found out that the two drell hadn't actually be born on Kahje but on First Land. Their parents had been miners there. Araj's family had moved back to Kahje when he was about 6 so he could be given to the Compact. Tore's family had stayed on First Land but after his parents had died in a mining accident he took off to see the universe. Along the way, he trained himself and became a private mercenary, who had a reputation of getting high risk jobs done. Nowadays, even though he was a freelancer, he still did quite a lot of jobs for the Illuminated Primacy.

After they had finished eating and had gotten dressed to go out, their plans were interrupted by a message to Araj's omnitool. 

“Crap. I have to go and give a report about the last mission.”

“The one that ended with an Alliance ship saving your ass?” Tore ribbed while smirking.

“Shut up.” Araj turned to Shepard apologetically. “Babe, I'm sorry but I've got to go and do this. If you want, you can go see the town with Tore and I'll catch up with you two when I'm done.”

“Sure, no problem. If Tore is fine with being stuck with me?”

“Oh, I'm fine. Might be even better if I was stuck IN you, but this will do, too.”

“That sounds painful from my point of view. I think I'll settle for sightseeing and shopping for now.”

“Spoil sport.”

“Then it's set. You guys head out on the town, I'll join you when I get the chance. And try to behave, would you?”

“Which one are you talking to?” Shepard asked amused as Araj leaned to give her a kiss before heading out.

“Pick one. It goes for the both of you,” the red drell laughed as he closed the door.

Shepard just chuckled and went to grab her bag from Araj's bedroom. Tore followed her and leaned on the doorway.

“So, where do you want to go?”

“I'm open for suggestions.”

“Really…?” Tore asked with a lascivious look on his face.

“Of places to go, you perv,” Shepard reprimanded, laughing. She pumped him with her hip on her way out of the room.

“Me, a pervert? You wound me,” he declared and tried to appear offended (and failing). Then he escorted her out of the apartment and into the street.

“You're a big boy. You'll get over it.”

“Wanna see, how big?”

Shepard saw in her peripheral vision that he was looking at her with an obscene expression. She couldn't help but laugh, again. He definitely was sure of himself. Not that she minded. She had always gotten along with guys who had an ambiguous sense of humor. Hell, she had one, too.

Tore turned out to be an excellent tour guide. He showed her some of the ruins that dotted the hanar home world and even managed to get them into a sold out trip around mount Vassla. Even though Shepard wasn't much of a history puff, she found the underwater volcano in the middle of large Prothean ruins very impressive. After the history lessons, it was on to shopping. Living on a spaceship with limited space, Shepard knew that she would have to control her urges. A few interesting pieces of jewelry or foreign foods, which she was planning to eat before going to the ship, wouldn't take too much space. But what really got her attention was a discreet-looking small shop on a side alley. 

“Hold on, I need to get something,” Shepard said before telling him to wait outside.

Tore leaned his back against the wall and amused himself with the idea that Araj didn't seem to know what he was doing if she had to go and visit a shop like that. Maybe he should show the red drell, how it's done. His train of thought was interrupted, when Shepard exited with a small bag on her hand and devilish smile. It seemed that whatever she had bought would probably be quite fun for both her and Araj.

“Why don't we get something to eat? Araj will probably be joining us soon,” Tore asked as they continued down the street.

“Sure. Is there a place around with your cuisine? I'm kind of interested trying out some of the foods that your people eat.”

“I know just the place. I'll sent the address to Araj so he can find us there.”

He guided them to a small restaurant that was off the tourist area and seemed to serve mainly for drell. There were only a few hanars around. The two of them, and especially she, seemed to draw quite a lot of attention. A quite susurration could be heard. A waiter approached them cautiously after they had sat down and couldn't stop staring at her. Tore didn't bother with the menus, he just ordered something for the both of them, and sent the waiter to the kitchen with their order. 

“Tore, have I done something wrong or is there something stuck on my face or something?”

“No, most of them have never seen a human. Your kind is rare on Kahje and even more so on drell neighborhoods. We can leave if you feel uncomfortable.”

“Oh please, I'm not that skittish. I remember seeing a drell for the first time. I stared at him for so long that he actually walked over and asked if I was having a seizure. We had a nice chat after that. He taught me a lot about your people. He always was a teacher at heart. Too bad he had chosen Omega as a pit stop on his way to the Citadel. Still don't understand why, it was completely out of his route. Any way, he saw a mugging and went to educate the attackers about humility and proper behavior. The fight was short and ugly. He hadn't noticed that one of them was hiding in the shadows, so he got shot in the back. Me and my uncle arranged his body to be shipped here and to be given to the sea. Hopefully they did it.”

“You don't know?”

“No, we had to ship the body anonymously because otherwise someone could have tracked my uncle. He was forced to stay in one place at the time to take care of me. Luckily he can now move around more freely.”

“Who is your uncle, then?”

“A very dangerous man, who is also a very protective and devoted uncle,” Araj commented as he walked over to their table. He sat down next to Shepard and gave her a kiss. He had ordered his own meal at the counter.

“That fits to a lot of guys I know.”

“My uncle is Zaeed Massani,” Shepard explained. Tore's face froze at the name.

“Zaeed Massani? THE Zaeed Massani? Founder of the Blue Suns? Destroyer of Verrikan? Are you kidding me?!”

“So, I guess you've heard of him,” Shepard said smiling shyly.

“Heard of him? The man is a legend! Someone even tried to hire me once to hunt him down. Refused it, didn't want to get myself killed. That man has a unique talent of walking out of situations as the only survivor.”

“Yeah, that's Z.”

“And he's your uncle?”

“Not by blood, but as good as one,” the woman answered as their meals came and they were able to start enjoying them.

“How did you two meet, then?”

“My dad saved him.”

“Okay, care to be more specific? It sounds like a hell of a story.”

“Z was the one who had recruited my dad to the Blue Suns. They were always close, brothers in arms, you could say. When Vido and Z argued about the direction of the group, dad sided with Z. And when Vido betrayed him and shot him, dad was the one who dragged him to safety. He brought him home and patched him up. After that, dad left the Suns, got married, and had kids. I remember growing up and waiting for Z's visits. It was almost like he adopted me and my brothers as his own, me especially. I was his little hell-raiser. He taught me about guns, self-defense, bombs, you know, all that girly stuff. I know for a fact that I'm the only person, who he has allowed to shoot his gun, Jessie, besides him. When my brothers died in the line of duty, I found him on my doorstep that evening. I was on a shore leave in the ass end of nowhere. I still don't know how he had tracked me down. He has always been there for me. Through thick and thin. I trust him with my life.”

“Sounds like you got quite a protector,” Tore said after she had finished. 

“I can vouch for that. He threatened to make me disappear if I hurt her,” Araj commented dryly.

“You've met Massani?” 

“Yeah. Nice guy, a real people person,” the red drell joked and was awarded with a slap on the arm.

“That's my uncle you're talking about.”

“And here I thought you said that you don't like slapping people and instead prefer to be slapped.”

“That was about spanking.”

“Is there a difference? Maybe you should demonstrate,” Araj said with a glint in his eyes.

After that the discussion gravitated towards less serious topics. At one point, they were approached by two small children who shyly asked about Shepard's hair. She answered them with a smile and opened her hair for them to touch. As the children skipped back to their parents smiling as brightly as the sun, the two drell could see that there were a lot of curious and a tad bit jealous faces around the restaurant. Apparently the children weren't the only ones, who were interested in her.

Once they had finished their meals, they continued shopping and the men took her to a shop that was specialized in drell pastries and sweets. By the time they finally managed to drag Shepard out of the shop, they swore to never take another woman to a shop that had anything sweet in it. Although Araj quickly changed his mind, when Shepard whispered to him her ideas about licking some of their purchases off him. After that, he seemed more eager to get back to the apartment than to continue shopping. As they wondered on the touristy neighborhood, they ran into Smith and Madison, who were trying to find some place to take the two asari they had managed to pick up the previous night. Araj introduced Tore to the men and then advised them to a nice intimate restaurant. The two soldiers left to make some reservations after telling Araj that he 'was the fecking man for getting them laid'.

When Tore left for his doctor's appointment, Araj rushed Shepard to the apartment. She had promised him something that he was going to collect. Knowing that Tore would be gone for a few hours, he didn't even bother to wait until his room before pulling her against him.

“You said something about licking…”

“I should have guessed that would get your attention,” Shepard said as she walked him over to the couch and sat him down. Then she kneeled in front of him and looked up at him. She ran her hands along his thighs to the closures of his pants and slowly undid them. Her hands continued their journey up and below his shirt, pulling it off him eventually. After he was half naked, she just looked at him with a small smile. Then she reached into one of her shopping bags and pulled out a canister of something that had reminded her of whipped cream. The moment she had seen it, she had known, what she was going to do with it. Araj looked keenly at her every move. From the way shaking the canister made her breasts bounce to the way she wrapped her lips around her finger and sucked off the cream she had squeezed on to it.

“This will probably feel a bit cold.”

Shepard laid some of the cream on to the right side of his neck making him gasp at the cool sensation. Then she made an arrow towards his groin and explained that it was just to make sure she wouldn't forget where she was supposed to go. The look on Araj's face made it clear that he would remind her very quickly, if she had a laps of memory. She set aside the canister and leaned to lick just a small bit of the cream on his chest. His eyes were getting darker and darker as the desire in him rose and his body was tensing as he struggled to stay still. This time he was determined to make her swallow every last drop of him.

With a long swipe of her tongue, she cleared the cream on his ripping. His breathing was turning into panting and a steady rumbling could be heard from his chest. She continued to lick the cream off his chest, going lower and lower as her hands wondered on his body. When she cleared the last bit of cream, she rose to her knees and kissed him. He could taste the sweetness on her. As much as Araj liked kissing her, she wasn't done. He took her by the shoulders and pushed her back down.

“You seemed to have forgotten where you were heading.”

“Well, we wouldn't want that, now, would we?”

Araj let out a sound that could only be described a whimper, when Shepard torturously, slowly licked him from the base to the tip his cock. She knew that he couldn't stand it if he didn't have at least a bit of control, so she guided his hands to the back of her head, where they grasped tightly on her hair. Shepard wrapped her hand around his cock and gave it a gentle squeeze as she played the tip of it with her tongue. She was softly scraping his leg with the nails of her hand and she could feel the strong muscles quivering.

When she wrapped her lips around him, a long growl rose from deep within him. But it was nothing compared to the sounds that erupted from him, when she took more and more of him into her mouth, until he could feel himself hit the back of her throat. She dug her nails into his hips as she started to move her head. She slowly pulled back, caressing every vein and ridge with her tongue on her way, before taking him again. The drell was practically hissing as he breathed through his clenched teeth. His hands tightened their hold on her and he forced her to move faster. The faster she moved, the louder he got. Araj yanked her hair with a bit more force than he meant to, causing her to groan around him. It was the last straw. He thrust himself as deep as she would take him and shot his essence into her waiting mouth. Then he held her still until he had completely spent himself. After he let go of her hair, she pulled back and gave a small kiss on the tip of his cock making it twitch slightly.

Before Araj had time to apologize for pulling her hair that roughly, they could hear the door opening and Tore complaining, how his appointment had been cancelled. Shepard looked at Araj's limb form with suppressed laughter before telling him to pull his pants up as she stalled Tore. 

She walked over to the door to meet the other drell as Araj struggled to gather his thoughts enough to figure out how close his pants. He finally managed to get himself dressed when he heard Tore asking Shepard, what they had done while he was gone. Hesitantly he walked over to them and wrapped his arm around her.

“Oh, nothing special. We just tried out some of that cream we bought.”

“How was it?”

“Best I've had so far,” Shepard replied giving a smoldering side glance to Araj, who couldn't hold back a groan. Tore looked at the pair with a knowing smirk. He had guessed, what they were doing just by seeing Shepar'´s disheveled appearance but he couldn't skip a chance to mess around with Araj.

“So, lots of experience in creams?”

“Some. I've had my share. It's rather surprising to see the varieties of texture and taste that are around there. You have to sample them to find the one you really like.”

“And you liked this one?”

“I could lick it up all night long.”

“Will you two just stop?” Araj said shaking his head, amused. These two really took double entendres to a whole new level. It's a wonder any of them are allowed anywhere, they were practically a public menace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a deal with ElvenSister that we both would try to put the words fecking (because of the trip to Ireland) and susurration (in honor of Terry Pratchett) in to our new chapters. And I actually managed do to this!
> 
> As for the text. I still struggle to write smut, but I'm trying my best. Any suggestions on, how to make it more intresting, are appreciated.


	16. Chapter 16

“What's in this?” Araj asked Shepard while holding a small carrier bag in his hand. She had moved most of her shopping to his bedroom before dinner but had forgotten that one on the sofa. 

“Oh, that. That's something for later,” Shepard said evasively while trying to ignore sniggering Tore, who was watching bioticball. He remembered very clearly the shop, where the content of that bag had been bought.

“Really,” the red drell drawled peeking into the bag. “This sounds promising.”

“Yeah, yeah. Do you mind if we would head out tonight?”

“Out? Why? I was planning to tie you down and have my wicked way with you.”

“As nice as that sounds, let's leave that for another night.” Shepard stepped next to Araj and whispered to him something that Tore couldn't hear. But it must have been something good, since his eyes got a predatory look at her words.

“Okay, change of plans. We're heading out. How about you, Tore?”

“I'm coming along. I've got a feeling that I don't want to miss this.”

Shepard laughed, snatched the small bag, and went to change her clothes. Araj went to grab two bottles and as he sat down he handed the other one to Tore. They sat in silence for a while, sipping their drinks.

“You managed to find yourself quite a woman.”

“I know.”

“Sexy as hell.”

“I know.”

“Good in bed?”

“You know it.”

“Adventurous?”

“You going somewhere with this?”

“Just remembering a conversation we had some years ago.”

“What are you boys talking about?” Shepard walked into the living room wearing boots, skin tight leather pants, and a corset. Both men gave her a thorough once-over. Being soldier had given her a toned figure, and Mother Nature had blessed her with an ample bosom that was struggling to be contained in the corset. In short, she was a very impressive-looking woman, who obviously wasn't ashamed of her body.

“Nothing special. Ready to go?” Araj evaded her question, got up and leaned down to ask her something. She nodded. A smile spread on Araj's face and he gave her a slap on the ass before guiding her towards the door. Tore followed them to the transport and gave the driver the address to an asari-owned nightclub. 

After an hour and several drinks, Tore was struggling to keep himself from laughing his ass off. Araj had dragged Shepard to the dancefloor and they were causing all sorts of resentment on people by dry humping each other. Araj’s behavior confused him, though. The other drell was supposed to be on a break but he was constantly working with his omnitool. Tore knew that Shepard had noticed this, too; she seemed to tense up every time his omnitool lit up. 

The pair finally stopped their public debauchery and walked back to the corner, where Tore was lounging on the sofa. Shepard plumped down next to the orange drell before asking Araj to get them another round of drinks. 

“I was sure you two were going to get thrown out.”

“Oh, please. Our dancing was nothing compared to what was happening on the edge of the dancefloor.”

“What do you mean?”

“You didn't notice? There was a couple getting hot and heavy next to the wall.”

“Damn. I missed that.”

“If they didn't get thrown out, there was no chance that we would.”

As Tore fished for details of the couple that had been screwing, he noticed that Shepard tensed up once again. He quickly looked at the bar and saw that Araj had his omnitool open again. Tore turned to Shepard, who was staring at the table, and patted her back clumsily, trying to comfort her for Araj's rude behavior. She was biting her lip and he assumed that was to keep herself calm. That's why he got quite the surprise, when a whimper came from the woman.

“Liz,” he said, quietly stroking her shoulder. She lifted her eyes to his and he was taken back by the obvious hunger in her gaze. Not that Tore minded Shepard looking at him like she wanted to devour him, but what had caused it all of a sudden? She clutched on the edge of the table as a shiver went through her.

“Are you okay?” Tore asked, confused. Shepard tried to answer him but had to bite down on her lip again to muffle her moan. He was getting worried. What the hell was wrong with her? He turned his eyes from her to search for Araj and could see him looking to their table with a crooked smile as he did something with his omnitool and, at the same time, Shepard shivered again. The red drell looked so pleased with himself. Slowly realization dawned on Tore. She had tensed up every single time Araj has had done something on his omnitool. That shop she had stopped… She couldn't have… Could she? Tore turned to Shepard with a wicked smile and leaned closer.

“Are you wearing a remote controlled vibrator?”

Shepard whipped her head towards him and Tore could see a blush spreading on her face. He had guessed it right and couldn't hold back his laughter anymore. She was definitely his kind of woman. He moved next to her and leaned to speak into her ear. 

“Is it actually in you or just against your clit?” His hot breath touching her skin made her shiver involuntarily.

“Tore,” she gasped feeling the heat radiating from him. Her voice was laced with pure pleasure and he had to admit that he liked his name to be voiced in that tone.

“You two playing nice?” Araj asked with a smirk as he walked back to the table and sat down with their drinks.

“I'm starting to think you're the one who isn't playing nice,” Tore chuckled as the woman next to him was trying to gather her composure. 

“I'm not the one who started this,” the red drell answered giving a pointed look at Shepard. She stood up, straddled Araj and pulled him into a passionate kiss. He grabbed her hips and grinded her against the bulge in his pants. When they stopped to catch their breaths, she whispered to him.

“But you better be the one to finish it.”

The drell let out a growl and turned his attention to Tore, who was looking at the pair.

“Keep watch, will you?”

Tore nodded at his friend, who snatched Shepard by the hand and pulled her into a nearby small alcove that was hidden from rest of the club. Araj pressed her against the wall and slanted his lips against hers and his hands went to open her pants. When his mouth moved to her neck she told him to skip the foreplay.

He quickly turned her around and ordered her to lean on the wall. Then he slipped both their pants low enough that he was able to push into her scorching tunnel. His sudden intrusion may have hurt if she wasn't already soaking wet and practically begging for attention. Touching his omnitool he turned the vibrator on a low setting so it kept vibrating on her clit. He could feel Shepard starting to shake as she tried to control her voice so they wouldn't be caught.

She leaned more heavily on the wall until her forearms were flat against it and she could rest her forehead on the smooth surface. Shepard could feel Araj's length moving inside her, rubbing her, filling her completely. He had played with the vibrator all evening and kept her right on the edge without letting her actually come, so she was over-stimulated and sensitive to the prink of hurting. 

Araj seized her hips tightly and pressed her even more firmly against the wall. She had to turn her head to the side so her nose wouldn't bang on the wall with every thrust. That's when she realized that Tore had changed his seat. He was now watching directly at her while sipping his drink. Even from this distance it was obvious that those tight pants, that he favored, did nothing to hide his arousal. Shepard knew that she should be embarrassed being seen like this, but to be honest, she was too preoccupied with the movement of the man behind her to care about Tore staring at them having sex.

“He wants to fuck you, you know. He wants to be balls deep in you, as he so elegantly would put it,” Araj murmured into her ear. He could feel Shepard clasp around his cock at his words. “You like the idea, don't you. I can feel your body reacting to the idea of having him fuck you or maybe it's the fact that you like being watched when someone fucks you.”

“Araj, please.”

“Answer me; do you want him to fuck you?” He pushed for an answer while pulling her head back by the hair.

“Araj,” she pleaded, sounding desperate. He answered by tightening his grip on her hair. Her eyes were drawn to the orange drell watching them with intense gaze. “Yes.”

“Say it.”

“I want him to fuck me.”

“That wasn't hard, was it,” Araj said and turned the omnitool's setting higher. She opened her mouth into a silent scream as the stimulation proved too much. He pushed her over the edge into an orgasm that had her clawing at the wall all the while staring into Tore's eyes.

Araj slammed deep into her and bit her neck as his own orgasm reached him. He rested his head against her back and tried to calm his breathing. When he felt Shepard still shake, he realized that the vibrator was still on, so he shut it down and pulled out of her before tucking himself back into his pants. Then he helped Shepard make herself representable. He leaned in to give her a kiss on the bite-mark. His breath caused her skin to break into goosebumps. But that didn't make her shiver nearly as much as his words.

“You're going to get that wish and I'm going to watch this time.”

Shepard turned around wide-eyed with surprise. 

“Are you serious?”

“If you want. Neither of us is going to force you into something you don't want to.”

“What about all that protective male shit you talked about?”

“I thought you had figured it out by now that we're not typical drell,” Araj said with smile. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and guided her back to the table. 

“Had fun?” Tore asked as they sat down. He didn't seem uncomfortable in the least with the fact he had just watched two people having sex in front of him.

“Definitely. She wants you to fuck her next,” Araj said calmly ignoring the look he received from Shepard.

“That can be arranged,” the other drell chuckled, giving her a lascivious look.

“Hold on guys. Don't I get a say in this? Shouldn't we talk about whatever this is?”

“Sure. We both want to fuck you and you want to fuck both of us. That simple,” Araj commented calmly. 

“Simple. Right…”

“We´re not asking for you to take us both at the same time,” Tore assured. “Think of it this way, you´ll just have two fuck-buddies instead of one.”

“And you're both okay with that?”

“Yeah,” both men answered. 

“Okay… I guess we can give it try at least. There could be worse fates than two sexy drell wanting to sleep with you.”

“Babe, if two drell want to get you into bed, there won't be a lot of sleeping involved,” Araj purred. 

“Oh, I can definitely work with that,” Shepard said with flirty smile. “Just one question. How often do you guys do this?”

“This is the first time, don't worry,” Araj laughed reassuringly.

“Aww… I'll be your first.”

“If we're all okay with this, then why are we still here?” Tore asked casually but with the heat still evident in his eyes.  
Within few minutes they were heading back to the apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, there will be more than just smut in this story. It just... oh, who am I kidding? I like smut :D


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for everyone who are reading this. I never thought this would get over 500 hits.
> 
> Comments (and critic) are loved as always.

The ride back to the apartment could not have been over fast enough in Shepard's opinion. She was squished in the backseat between two drell, who didn't seem to be able to control their hands. They were both fondling her and Tore was kissing her neck. She was kind of apprehensive about everything that was happening but, on the other hand, she was excited. Having grown up mainly on Omega had given her a quite a relaxed attitude towards interspecies sex. For heaven's sake, before Araj her best sex had been with a turian. She had even had sex with a batarian (after way too much alcohol). But right now she had two steaming hot drell aching to have sex with her. It might not last or one of them might get burned but they all agreed it was worth the risk.

When they finally arrived in front of the apartment, Tore started pulling Shepard towards their flat as Araj stayed to pay their ride. After getting indoors, Tore wasted no time in gluing himself on her and lifting her on the kitchen counter. He barely even registered Araj closing the door after him, being so entranced by the woman. Her hands were stripping his clothes and his were pulling off her boots.

“Hold on. I have an idea,” Araj said as he sat down to a nearby chair.

“This better be good if it's worth interrupting,” Tore snapped at him.

“Liz, how about you strip for us?” The other two turned their heads towards Araj, Shepard in disbelief and Tore in anticipation. He abruptly let go of her and took a seat next to the red drell.

“I can do that but only if guys do it first,” Shepard said seductively. She had spent years in the military but she had never seen two men discard their clothing as fast as the two drell did. 

After they were both sitting naked, she jumped down from the counter, slowly opened her pants and peeled them all off. She could practically feel their eyes on her body as she unclipped the butterfly vibrator. That definitely had been money well spent. She loosened the lacing on the back of the corset and started to unclasp the front. Every move she made generated sounds of excitement from the men. She dropped the corset to the floor and gave a sigh of relief as the pressure around her disappeared. Shepard looked at the two drell that looked ready to jump her and an idea came to her. With a seductive swing she walked over to Araj and placed his hands to the armrests.

“You are not allowed to move your hands unless I give you permission. Is that understood?” The red drell nodded so she let go of his hands and turned all her attention to Tore who was looking at her with hungry eyes. “And you… Damn, you look good.”

The smirk on Tore's face told her that he was aware of that particular fact. He might have been lounging on the chair but one specific part of his physic looked everything but relaxed. She had two naked drell specimens in front of her, so she couldn't help but make a few comparisons. Araj's stripes were more sharp-edged, probably because he wasn't as scarred as Tore. The orange drell's equipment was longer than Araj's but lacked some of the girth. Not that she was complaining.

Shepard sat on Tore's lap and the pair continued, where they had left off. His hands travelled on her sides, pulling her against him. Feeling her heat on his cock caused him to start rumbling deep in his chest. She gasped at the sensation; his rumbling caused him to practically vibrate. Shepard had worn the vibrator all evening so her clit was already sensitive and his dick's movement felt very enjoyable. 

“You humans are so responsive. I've missed that,” Tore whispered in her ear as his hand moved to her breast. He gave a tug on her nipple and guided her up slightly to line himself with her. They were both past foreplay. Slowly she lowered herself on his length. Thank God, he was sitting in a chair without armrests; otherwise this would have been really tricky. As she began to move, Tore lifted one of her breasts and captured the mound's center in his mouth. Tore's other hand slipped where the two of them were joined to rub on her clit. 

Shepard's breathing was turning labored as she kept lifting herself and slamming back down. To increase the friction, she started to gyrate her hips while moving and that proved to be all that it took. She couldn't take all the stimulation anymore and she orgasmed sinking her nails on Tore's shoulders drawing blood.

“Damn woman! I already got enough scars,” Tore hissed as Shepard convulsed around him. 

“You're a big boy. You can take it,” she joked referring to their earlier conversation. Tore chuckled at the memory, pulled her closer, and thrusted hard.

“Sure, I can but it's your turn to take it,” he winked. She laughed, lifted herself off him, and went on all fours on the floor.

“Bring it on,” she challenged. He rose from the chair looking at the woman in front of him. He glanced at Araj and saw him gripping at the armrest. Tore couldn't help but give an amused huff. Now he knew what he had felt like in the night club. Shepard noticed Tore's look and an impish smile spread on her face. She decided to take another approach. If Tore wanted to tease Araj, she was going to help. Hell, she was all for it, considering how much he had teased her earlier. She stood up, walked over to Araj, and brazed herself leaning to his shoulders. With a smirk she looked over her shoulder. Tore looked confused momentarily before understanding her purpose. While laughing he walked over to her and hilted himself with one swift push. 

“Fuck! You're so wet. Better hold on, I'm gonna fuck you just like you asked for.”

He grabbed her hips tightly and started to piston his hips. The sound of scales hitting skin echoed in the room along with her gasps and his growls. 

Shepard had her eyes locked with Araj's. He looked like his self-control was hanging by a thread. Seeing Shepard ride Tore and then being fucked by him, without Araj being allowed to touch himself, was proving to be quite a struggle. He knew that one touch would be enough for him at this point. 

Tore's pace kept increasing until it came to an abrupt stop as he spilled inside her. As he kept pulsing, she leaned close to Araj.

“You can touch yourself.”

The red drell wasted no time grasping his aching cock and stroked himself until spending all over his stomach and her breasts.

“Sorry about that,” Araj said, finally being able to let go. Shepard didn't answer, she just gathered some white semen on her finger and licked it clean. Both men noticed this and weren't able to hold back their groans. 

“Come on. I'll help you clean up. He's going to need a moment,” Tore told before guiding her to the bathroom in his room. 

In the shower, he carefully cleaned the mess Araj had made. He hadn't been kidding when he had said that he found sex with asari unsatisfying and asari were pretty much the only ones around that were willing to have sex without long-term commitment. That's one of the reasons why he was so pleased that Shepard had agreed to this fuck-buddies arrangement. But it also meant that after having goon so long without satisfying sex, one round wasn't enough. Not even close.

He slipped his fused finger between her legs and into her sheath.

“Do you trust me, Liz?”

“So far.”

“Turn off your translator for a while.”

“Why?”

“Just trust me.”

“Fine. But just so you know, I'm turning it on when we go to the bedroom.”

“Agreed.”

Shepard didn't really understand the point of it but turned her translator off. She could hardly believe her ears. He sounded completely different. His deep, timber voice got a whole new nuance in it when she couldn't understand a word he said. It was more like she could feel his words, the thrills, growls, and rumbling. Shepard was starting to understand that Tore was a much more vocal lover than Araj.

Tore pulled his fingers out, pushed her against the wall, wrapped her legs around his waist, and sheathed himself once more. With him talking on his native language next to her ear and moving inside her, it didn't take long for the tiled room to be filled with Shepard moaning his name over and over again like a chant.

He was trying to hold back so she could find release as well but he was fighting a losing battle. Shouting her name, he climaxed. Shepard's scream joined his when the feeling of him shooting his seed into her brought forth her orgasm.

They finished cleaning off and Shepard turned her translator back on when they walked to Tore's bedroom. Araj was waiting for them there with a heated look in his eyes. Shepard lifted her eyebrow at him, confused, and Tore coughed shifting weight from foot to foot, almost embarrassed.

“Do you have any idea how loudly you were saying those things?” Araj asked the other drell, who settled to sit on the bed, leaning on the wall.

“Wait. What things?” Shepard sounded confused looking between the two drell.

“What do you mean what things? All the stuff he said to you.”

“My translator was off. I have no idea what he said.”

“Really, Tore? You had her turn it off? I don't understand why, she probably would have gotten a kick out of all the things you said.”

“I know but I prefer showing them to her later,” Tore answered calmly.

“Were you serious about that one…?”

“Which?”

“You know which I mean.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, definitely.”

Shepard was starting to look annoyed. She had no idea, what the two them were talking about.

“Guys, I would really like know what we're talking about here.”

“Araj is just ribbing me about talking dirty to you in our native language. And what we were talking about specifically. Well, I think we rather show you. Come here,” Tore said, holding out his hand. Shepard didn't hesitate even for a second before taking the offered hand. Tore guided her to settle between his legs as Araj climbed on the bed behind her. 

“I want to watch Araj taking you from behind when you suck my cock. Are you okay with this?” Tore asked sounding slightly hesitant. He still wasn't quite sure how much she was willing to do since this was a new situation for all of them.

“I think the question is if you're up for it?” she teased and looked at his dick that was rapidly hardening.

Tore didn't bother to vocalize his answer, he just grasped her hair and guided her mouth on his engorged member. She wasted no time and took all of him in her mouth with one try. It was clear that her gag reflex wasn't a problem, so nothing was stopping her. Taking him orally also enforced her assumption that Tore was longer than Araj. It was in fact very obvious at this point. 

Araj didn't give her much time to settle before burying himself into her. Shepard couldn't help but to feel slightly helpless and obscene having two men inside her. At the same time, she also knew that if she would have wanted to stop it all, the two drell would have stepped back. That knowledge allowed her to relax in their hands and take everything they wanted to give her, which seemed to be a lot of cock.

The red drell's powerful thrusts caused her to deep throat Tore, which in turn caused the orange drell to hiss and grab her hair even tighter, making her groan. It was all a relentless cycle with only one purpose: to create as much pleasure as possible. 

Tore was the first one to let go and Shepard diligently swallowed every last drop. Seeing her take everything like it was some sort of nectar proved to be too much for Araj, who soon followed Tore's example taking Shepard with him. 

Araj pulled out of her and collapsed on the bed next the other two. Tore moved slightly so he could lie on his back and Shepard snuggled next to him. She was completely worn out by the two drell and she had a feeling that tomorrow she wouldn't be doing a lot of walking. Still, she was feeling content, resting her head on Tore's wide chest with Araj's hand resting on her hip.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. I've had a writer's block regarding this story and I've been spending more time resently on my other story.  
> Anyways, hope you like this one. I'm kicking the story onwards in this chapter. But fret not, there will be smut in the future, probably...

The following days were a sex-hazed dream. Shepard, Araj, and Tore knew that their time together was limited. It wouldn't be long until one of them would have to go on a job. So they were determined to make the most of the time they had. That meant they rarely left the apartment and when they did, at least two of them ended up on going at it some alley.

Shepard learned interesting things about her men (as they insisted her to call them) during the week. Araj turned out to be the most prone to exhibitionism and was a bit more bossy in bed. Tore, on the other hand, was experimental and a bit wilder in the bed, very keen on nibbling and biting, and much more vocal than Araj. He also knew how to use that voice of his. But despite all that, both of them were caring lovers that were set on placing her pleasure and needs first. Not that it meant they would always go easy on her. One day they had tied her down, spanked her, and fucked her until she had almost passed out. She had asked for it, though, so she couldn't blame them. 

When the last full day of shore leave arrived, Shepard sat down to have some breakfast. Tore had left early for his last doctor's appointment and Araj had been called to discuss something regarding his next mission. She was trying to figure out, what to do with her free time, when her omnitool binged. Captain Murray wanted to see her at the Dreadnought, ASAP.

She ran to change into her uniform and grabbed some fruits from the table on her way out. As Shepard sat in the transport, she sent both of her drell a message to let them know, where she was going.

The docks around the Dreadnought were empty except for the four figures walking towards the ship's entrance. 

“Liz, over here.”

Shepard went closer and noticed that the entire ground crew had been summoned. The others looked just as puzzled as she was. None of them knew why they had been asked there.

The five humans waited for the decontamination cycle to end and, as the door opened, they were face to face with the Captain. Out of instinct, all of them snapped to attention. 

“At ease. I called all of you here because you're getting a new assignment. The Alliance and the Illuminated Primacy have made an agreement to arrange an exchange program. There will be a short-term trial first. Some of our soldiers will train with the hanar and drell soldiers for six month and then part of their soldiers will come to train with our soldiers.”

“Okay… What does that have to do with us?” Madison asked, confused.

“You five will be part of the first exchange.”

“Us?” Shepard gasped.

“Yes. Apparently, Zameld sits quite high in the hanar hierarchy and asked for you five specially. Now, you'll all be expected to send weekly reports. Also, I have been asked to remind you that you are representing Earth. So, no fooling around,” Murray said directing the last statement to Madison.

“So we'll be here for six months?” McKenzie inquired.

“Affirmative. I called you here earlier so you can collect your belongings, armor, and weapons from the ship. Here's all the information that was sent to me.” The ground crew's omnitools received messages regarding the mission. ”As a personal note, it has been an honor to work with all of you and I will be giving the Alliance high appraisal on all of you for your abilities.”

The soldiers saluted their former Captain, went to empty their lockers, and then took everything they needed from the armory.

“Hard to believe that we're staying here,” Smith said, as they walked out of the ship.

“We do, what we're told to do. You knew that, when you signed in.”

“Yeah, yeah. But honestly Matt, don't you ever feel like you're being tossed around?”

“Of course, I do. I'm a jarhead. There is a reason why I'm being trained as a ground team leader and not as a Captain. I can lead a small team but a large group or a ship? No way in hell. That isn't me. It's kind of nice that I'm responsible for something, but not for everything. Would you like to be in the lead instead of following?”

“Me? Lead? That would end badly. Very badly. Like, being run over by a legion of krogans badly. Only ordering I will do is during a medical situation. That's something I know how to do.”

“My point exactly. I mean seriously, do you think anyone of us has the potential to lead an actual ship?”

Smith looked at his fellow soldiers. Madison was automatically out, he was happier fixing things and his track record with misdemeanors probably wouldn't allow him to rise any higher in the ranks. McKenzie could lead but would probably be at his best leading other biotics. Plumply didn't want to lead a ship and neither did he. That left Shepard. 

“Maybe Shepard?”

“Hmm… You´ve got a point. Liz tends to see the big picture. Probably because she's usually in the background sniping.”

“HEY!” Shepard screamed, trying to sound hurt.

“Well, you do. You sit in the back staring at our asses the whole time,” Plumply smirked.

“Oh please. Don't flatter yourselves,” Shepard stated. “I only do that for half of the time.”

They burst into laughter. Future at Kahje might be unknown to them at this point but at least they would be together. Or so they hoped.

“All right. According to the memo Murray sent, we are expected to check in at 0800,” the commander said as he checked the info the Captain had sent them.

“Check in where?” Madison asked.

“Not sure. There's only an address.”

“Great. This doesn't seem ominous at all.”

“Don't worry, Mark. We'll protect you. Now, Liz, I'm sure you want to spend the last night at Araj's so meet as at our hotel tomorrow morning at 0700. We'll head to this address together, so no one will end up lost on his or her own.”

“Sounds good. I'll see you guys tomorrow,” Shepard said as she packed her things into the transport. 

“And Liz, tell Araj it was nice to meet him.”

“Tell him not to get killed! Who would help us to pick chicks then?” Madison piped in.

“I will. See ya!” 

****************************

Araj and Tore had already returned by the time Shepard arrived to the apartment. 

“Hey babe, what did your Captain want?” Araj asked and leaned in to give her a kiss.

“He gave us our new orders.”

“Us?”

“Yeah, the orders were for the whole ground team.” Shepard sat down next to Tore and gave him a peck on the cheek.

“So?”

“So, what?”

“What were your orders?”

“Oh, that. You should know better than that. I can't tell you. Only thing I can tell you guys is that I'm promised to meet rest of the team tomorrow at 0700.”

“You have an early morning ahead of you.”

“So it would seem. How about you guys? What are you planning to do?”

“I got a mission off world. I'm leaving tomorrow at dawn,” Araj told.

“Same here. Got an interesting job that I can't refuse,” Tore commented.

Shepard didn't say anything. Both of the drell seemed nonchalant about the fact that their time together was coming to an end. True, she had known since the beginning that their arrangement wouldn't last but they didn't have to be so blasé about it. She had to admit to herself that she had grown fond of the two and would miss them.

“Hey, is everything okay? You went so serious and quiet,” Tore worried lifting her head slightly, so she had to look into his eyes.

“Everything's fine. Just lost in my thoughts for a moment.”

“You're sure?” 

“Positive. So, what should we do for our last night?”

“How do dinner, bath, and a full-body massage sound like?” Araj purred next to her ear.

“Mmm… Sounds like you guys are pampering me.”

“Is that so bad?”

“Definitely not. I think it's a great. Proceed as planned.” Shepard cuddled next to Tore's side and lifted her feet on to Araj's lap. The red drell dug his thumbs to the sole of her foot making her moan loudly. Foot massages had always been her weakness.

“Not that I don't enjoy your moans, I think we should go get that dinner before it will become impossible for me to ignore those sounds and I must devour you,” Tore laughed, listening to the delicious sounds coming from her.

“That doesn't sound bad either,” Shepard said softly while running her fingers along the orange drell's frills. 

“We have to get going or we're going to be late. I already made a reservation,” Araj remarked before letting go of her foot, making her let out a disappointed sound. Both drells chuckled at her. They got up from the sofa and went on to carry out their plans.

They had a peaceful dinner talking about everything but their coming missions. When they got back, she laid naked on the bed as the two drell' massaged every inch of her body until her muscles felt like noodles. 

The bath was scented and filled with bubbles. Tore carefully washed her hair as Araj cleaned everything else. By the time Shepard got up, she could barely walk. She felt so relaxed. But the night was far from over. Araj carried her to bed as Tore followed them and they spent rest of the night making love, slowly and tenderly.  
In the morning, Shepard's omnitool woke her up from her slumber. Araj and Tore had left earlier after saying their farewells and kissing her goodbye. She sat at the edge of the bed and looked around. The whole apartment felt so empty. It was almost like all the light and warmth had disappeared. Shepard sighed, got up, and went to pack her belongings. 

After breakfast and making sure everything was in order, she left to meet the rest of the ground team. She had agreed with Araj and Tore that their arrangement wouldn't change even if they were travelling across the known universe but she also knew that the chances of them meeting again were slim to none. Despite feeling little blue, she didn't regret their week together one bit, and she was sure they would still stay in touch through calls and mails, at least for a while.

When she was nearing the hotel, she could see that the guys were already waiting for her. She snapped herself from her thoughts because she had a job to do and the guys couldn't know that she was distracted. It would have affected the whole team. So she put on a brave face and greeted the men. 

The rest of the soldiers were excited and didn't seemed to notice that anything was off but Plumply took one look at her and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Of course he had seen through her, she should have guessed it. The commander knew her better than anyone else in the team. He was the only one she had ever told about her childhood, her family, and her past. Others might have known pieces but only three people knew everything. She, Plumply, and Zaeed. He looked at her under his brow, she nodded, and a small smile ghosted on his lips. Shepard knew she could always talk to him without the fear of being judged. It was comforting to know that. She would need a shoulder to lean on during the next few weeks. Those damn drell had really gotten under her skin and made her care about them.


	19. Chapter 19

Shepard was bored out of her mind. It had been a week since the five humans had begun their exchange program. So far they had been through annoyingly thorough physical, hours and hours of history lessons, and language education. The only people they had met had been hanars. The humans couldn't even tell if they had been different ones. They all looked the same, large pink jellyfishes.

The group was subjected to yet another lecture held by Zameld. Shepard was dozing off on her seat when McKenzie nudged her.

“Liz, you're snoring.”

“No, I'm not.” Shepard sat up trying to look sharp.

“Sure…”

Shepard had problems staying awake every time she heard any hanar speaking. The monotonic voice was like a vocal sleeping pill. She was hoping they would get to do some actual training, as well, because there was no way in hell she would stay sane if they did this for six months. When her mind began to wonder again, her omnitool gave a notification of an incoming message.

 **Araj Taal:** Hi, babe.

 **Alice Shepard:** Araj! Please! Save me from boredom!

 **AT:** I'll get right on it. Where are you?

 **Alice:** I can't tell you. You know that.

 **AT:** That severely limits my possibilities of rescuing you from boredom.

 **Alice:** Damn. Hey, wait! Your surname is Taal?

 **AT:** Yes. Why do you seem so surprised? You didn't assume that I have only one name, did you?

 **Alice:** No, you just never said your full name.

 **AT:** That's because I rarely use it. I get along fine with just one.

 **Alice:** True.

 **AT:** Now, why don't you tell me, what you´re wearing.

 **Alice:** What?

 **AT:** You did say you wanted me to come to your aid.

 **Alice:** And this is, what you came up with?

 **AT:** You misunderstood me. You'll be the one doing the 'coming'.

 **Alice:** Araj…

 **AT:** By gods, I miss that. You, moaning my name. The way you quaver under my touch.

 **Alice:** Please, don't do this.

 **AT:** You don't want to know, what I see every time I close my eyes? I see you, arching your back, so you can get all of me inside you. Your lips, slightly separated as you gasp for air. The blush, spreading all the way to your chest. Your nipples, like small pebbles, begging to be pinched.

Shepard didn't feel bored in the least anymore. She did have trouble staying still, though. The images Araj was describing were too vivid.

 **AT:** If you're really bored, then maybe you should wear that vibrator of yours. I still have the controls.

 **Alice:** That would end up with me embarrassing myself.

 **AT:** But it would happen in a very enjoyable way.

 **Alice:** True. Although, it would be even more enjoyable if it was due to you having your face buried between my legs.

 **AT:** I'll keep that in mind.

 **Alice:** Sounds like a plan. I got to go, babe. Lunchtime.

 **AT:** Can I call you in the evening?

 **Alice:** Sure. I should be free by 2000.

 **AT:** Will continue this then. Say 'Hi' to the guys for me.

 **Alice:** Will do.

The day dragged on and Shepard, along with Madison, was finding different ways to endure their boredom. They kept playing poker over and over again on their omnitools. By the end of the day, it was clear that Madison really shouldn't play against someone trained in facial expressions.

After another long day of lectures, Shepard kicked off her boots and collapsed on her bed. This definitely wasn't, what she had expected when Captain Murray had given them the assignment. There were some positives, though. She had a room of her own. Apparently, the hanars hadn't quite assimilated that in the Alliance men and women slept in the same quarters and even used communal showers. So, when she had arrived, it had caused a bit of distress. They had figured she would require private accommodation and nothing she had said could change their minds.

She wondered just how much of a shock the hanars and drell would be in when a group of them would take part in the next part of the exchange. There would be no private quarters or separation by gender on Earth. Shepard couldn't help but feel slightly amused by the idea.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

“Come in.”

“Hi, Liz. I just sent our reports forward,” Plumply said as he stepped in.

“Those ought to be thrilling reading for some paper-pusher in the Alliance headquarters.”

“Yeah, this is…”

“Boring as hell? Brain numbing? Complete and utter waste of time?”

“Always the eloquent one.”

“You know me.”

“More than most, I'd assume.”

“Goes both ways.”

A small smile appeared on his face as he shifted nervously. That's when she noticed a bottle in his hand. “I thought you didn't want to do this anymore.”

“I thought about it, but that wouldn't feel right.”

“True. You got it then?”

“Best I could find.”

“I'll get the glasses.”

As Plumply opened the bottle of whisky, Shepard grabbed some glasses for them. He filled both glasses to the rim, lifted his drink, and said the first words.

“To the ones we loved.”

“To the ones we lost.”

“We will never forget.”

“We will never give up.”

“To our fallen sisters.”

“To our fallen brothers.”

“We will always carry on, what you did.”

“Who you were.”

“And how much you cared.”

“Hannah, Karl.”

“Ann.”

“Thomas, Simon, Joakim.”

”Samantha, Katharine.”

Slowly they drank their whiskeys before sitting down on the floor. For some time, neither of them said anything. Only the sound of whisky being poured into the glasses could be heard occasionally. When the bottle was half empty, Plumply finally spoke.

“I couldn't help but notice that Zaeed still speaks about your parents as if they were alive.”

“He blames himself. Even after all this time. Even though he knows as well as me that there was nothing he could have done. Vido really didn't take kindly to dad helping Z. To be honest, it's a bit of a miracle that he didn't find us sooner. But when he did… That bastard shot them right in front of my eyes.”

“Zaeed did manage to save you.”

“Yeah. Still has the scar for that rescue.”

“He really loves you.”

“And I love him. Hell, he stopped himself from taking revenge just so he could get me to safety.”

“He wanted to make sure you and your brothers lived on.”

“I know. Luckily, the guys had already enlisted and were safe at boot camp. What little good it did…”

“You were still able to spend many years with them.”

“And then they die on a routine bust to a Blue Suns camp. I still can't understand why they were allowed on that job. Way too much history between our family and that group. Too much blood.”

“They wanted revenge.”

“Instead, they got shot. Just like mum and dad. I swear, when I get my hands on Vido, me and Zaeed are going to spend weeks, maybe even months, taking his life. He owes me five lives.”

“Maybe you can give hints.”

“You know we'll help you. First to hunt down those slavers and then to get rid of them,” Shepard said and gave the man's hand a reassuring squeeze before filling their glasses again.

“I will never forgive myself for not being there.”

“I know.”

“How could I leave her alone with the girls…? What was I thinking?”

“You were trying to make the world safer for your kids by doing your job.”

“That worked out great, didn't it. I'm out on a mission, when the slavers come and try to take my wife and daughters.”

“They went out with a fight.”

“Yeah, they did. You know, after all these years, I can't help but feel a bit like a proud dad and husband. My girls had clawed eyes out of the damn batarian piece-of-shit that had come after them. And Ann, my beautiful Ann, had killed six of them before the slavers had eventually decided they were more trouble than worth and gunned them down. God, I still remember the smell of blood, walking into the house.”

“That's something you can never forget. Nor should you.”

Shepard hung her head as silence took over once again. They had spoken these things many times. When she had first been assigned to Plumply's team years ago, she hadn't know, what they had been in for. She had been there, when the news of his family had come in. Later that evening, she had found him in his old house with a bottle of whisky and a pistol. She couldn't blame him. Hell, she had gone through the same. So, she had sat down next to him on to the still bloody floor and told him her story. As the night had went on, the pistol lied forgotten, he had agreed to keep living, and they had founded a friendship on blood and pain.

Years had passed and most people didn't know the personal hells they had been through. Both of them were model soldiers in everyone else's eyes, they would joke, tease, and do their jobs. But one day a year, they would open a bottle of whiskey, sit on the floor, just like then, and talk. About hate, revenge, self-loathing, and guilt. They would listen to each other, support, and, most importantly, they wouldn't judge. When the one told about the things they would like to do, the other would give tips. Was it healthy? The shrinks probably wouldn't think so, but it worked for them. They had tried giving up their little “guilty gathering” but they never did. They needed it.

After a few more drinks, they changed the topic. They talked about the training. Plumply teased her about her polyamorist relationship with Araj and Tore. She had spilled everything to him the same night they had arrived to this place. They talked about everything and nothing. When the bottle was empty, they got up, hugged, and Plumply decided that it would be best if he got some sleep since it was becoming harder to stand without swaying.

As the door closed behind him, Shepard glanced at her omnitool. Araj had tried to call six times. It was way too late to call him back, so she just sent a short message apologizing and explaining that she hadn't been able to answer due to being engaged in a conversation. A moment later a response came.

 **AT:** No problem, babe. Just thought you should know, I'll be out of reach for a while. Don't know for how long. Goodnight. Sweet dreams of your loved one, which is hopefully me.

Shepard chuckled at his message and typed a short answer.

 **Alice:** You know it. You and Tore. I'll talk to you when there's a chance. Stay safe.

After that she took a quick shower before hitting the sack. She was going to have a hangover the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one just got away. I started this chapter quite a while back and when I finally continued it, it went to a totally different diraction I had expected. Hope you like it none the less :)


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for every comment, kudos, and bookmark this story has gotten. They mean a lot to me. And a HUGE thank you for my dear beta ElvenSister, who patiently checked my text even though she has lot of work to do and has been ill.

Shepard was sitting at the kitchen table, moving her untouched breakfast around the plate. It had been three weeks since the Dreadnought had left, leaving the ground crew on Kahje, and two weeks since Shepard had heard from Araj and Tore. She was beginning to get worried. Araj had told her that he would be out of reach but the last message from Tore had ended: ' _Talk to you soon, sexy.'_ But since then, nothing. His profession wasn't the safest. Could something have happened to him?

“Something wrong, Liz?” Plumply asked as he sat down next to her. “You've been awfully quiet lately.”

“Yeah.”

“Is this about Araj?”

“No.”

“Tore?”

“I haven't heard from him.”

“And now you're worried.”

“A bit.”

“Relax. I'm sure he's fine.”

“How do you know that?”

“Call it a hunch. Besides, we have other things to worry about.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hold on. I don't want to repeat myself.”

Smith, Madison, and McKenzie joined them. It would be a few more hours before they would have to hear another lecture. Luckily, they had advanced from history lessons to hanar battleships. It was more interesting but only Madison was actually listening to those lessons.

“Okay, guys. I just got the word. We're being transferred. Because a great deal of drells are part of the military, the Illuminated Primacy has a training base in one of its colonies. Apparently, it has a drier climate that's more suited to accommodate drells.”

“It doesn't take much to be drier than this place,” Smith commented between bites of food.

“Granted.”

“So, where are we heading?”

“Belan.”

“Is that the place where those cute jellyfishes are from?” Shepard perked right up when she heard the planet's name.

“Jellyfishes?” Madison asked, confused.

“When we were at the Citadel, I saw some jellyfish at the Kanala Exports. They were cute. If I had an aquarium, I would SO buy them.”

“You want an aquarium?”

“And a space hamster!”

“What?”

“A space hamster. The mighty little warrior.”

“A warrior?”

“What are you? A parrot? Yes, a warrior. My brother Joakim used to play an old retro game, where one of the characters had a little hamster. He would always order the little thing to 'go for the eyes, Boo. Go for the eyes.'”

“You are such a weirdo…”

“Because I like animals or because I want something to remind me of my brother?”

“I'm not going to win this, am I?” Madison sounded defeated.

“Nope,” she said, tilting her head and giving him a smug grin.

“Anyway… We're leaving in a few hours. Our morning classes have been canceled so we can pack everything. Zameld said that we will be joining a bunch of drell, who are beginning their Compact training,” Plumply continued while trying to hide his smile when Smith burst out the juice he had been drinking.

“Compact? You're telling me we'll be in the middle of a group of Arajs?”

“Not yet. They're just starting their training.”

“Still, we're going to be so screwed.”

“Oh, relax. Being screwed by a drell feels great,” Shepard joked and nudged Smith friendly. The young medic covered his face with his hands, mumbling how he didn't want to know about her sex-life. The rest of the group laughed out loud.

After breakfast, everyone went to gather their stuff before a ground transport came to take them to the ship that would take them to Belan. The flight took a few days but when they finally got there, they were amazed. Belan turned out to be a lush, green garden planet. To put it simply, it was beautiful.

The humans were escorted to a large facility that had the same boring, sterile feel than the place at Kahje. On the other hand, the people inside were much more colorful. Among the hanars, there were drell, in all the colors of the rainbow. Shepard took a quick look at her companions and felt that they looked kind of boring in comparison. But it did seem that to everyone else, the five of them were fascinating. As they made their way to their sleeping quarters, they were painfully aware of everyone staring at them, and her, especially.

Just like on Kahje, she had been arranged private quarters whereas the men were housed among the drell. There were benefits of sleeping alone but the past few weeks had proven to her that she was, probably, going to get a bit lonely at some point. She was accustomed to having a bunch of people around. There wasn't much privacy on spaceships.

Once they had settled in, they were brought to an auditorium that had close to fifty drell already seated along with about twenty hanars. Zameld made the five of them stand next to the podium and introduced them. It was becoming clear that most of the drell around had never seen a human before and didn't quite know how to react. As Zameld went on telling about the exchange program, McKenzie leaned closer to Shepard.

“Why are they all staring at you like that?”

“Don't you remember? Female drell aren't trained in combat and they sure as hell aren't soldiers. I doubt the thought of training with a female has ever crossed their mind.”

“Yeah, but Araj didn't seem that surprised.”

“He's travelled a lot more than these guys and met more species. I would think that by the time he met asari, all gender stereotypes went out the window.”

“True.”

After all the introductions, they were finally allowed to sit down as one of the trainers stood up and explained to everyone, what kind of daily routines could be expected. They had a strict schedule. The humans were a bit confused, though, when they noticed that there was two hours of meditation every single day. Not a typical part of Alliance training.

Several hours later, there was a celebratory dinner in the honor of this collaboration. Shepard wasn't very amused when she noticed that only a few people asked anything from her and no-one spoke to her directly. All questions regarding her were directed to her companions, mainly Plumply, and she was usually referred as 'the female'. She was getting increasingly agitated by this patriarchic bullshit.

Luckily, Plumply and the others didn't encourage this behavior and, instead, always suggested that the questioner would ask her directly. It caused quite the stir, when they continued to explain that women were a valuable part of the Alliance and that she was one of the best snipers around. Plumply also, very diplomatically, made it clear that if this exchange program was to succeed, it would be prudent to treat Shepard and all women with respect. The Alliance did not look kindly on discrimination.

The hanars were quick to agree with Plumply and a lot of the younger drell looked like they were ashamed of their behavior. A few of them even mustered up enough courage to come and apologize to her. True, they still didn't look her in the eyes but it was a start and, by the end of the dinner, they even called her by her name.

As they were heading to their quarters, they turned to yet another hallway when their journey came to an abrupt halt. Around halfway of the hallway was standing a drell in his battle gear, black leather with red stiches that accentuated the red in his scales.

“Araj!”

Shepard screamed and ran towards him. The grinning drell opened his arms for a hug but what he got was a whole lot of woman. She jumped into his lap, wrapping her legs around him, and proceeded to kiss him as if her life depended on it. Araj wasn't prepared for such an enthusiastic greeting, so he stumbled a bit before catching his balance. His other hand went to her neck to pull her lips closer as the other hand took a firm hold of her behind. There was nothing gentle or patient in their kiss. It was unsaturated lust. Eventually, they did have to come up for air but even then their hold on each other didn't fade.

“We're still here, you know,” Plumply said as rest of the guys were looking at the floor or the ceiling or anything but the couple making out.

“Why do I get the feeling you didn't tell her that I was going to be one of the liaisons during your exchange?” Araj asked the Commander, whose lips were turning into a smug smile.

“What?! You knew all along that he was here?! And didn't tell me?!” Shepard twisted in Araj's arms so she could look at Plumply as she screamed at him.

“Yep.” His calm answer did nothing to smooth her anger.

“You bastard!” Shepard's further insults were smothered when Araj claimed her lips again.

“You need to calm down, babe. They're going to send guards if you keep screaming like that.”

“But he didn't tell me!”

“Because I asked him not to. Though, I wasn't sure he was going to keep it a secret. I just wanted to surprise you.”

He let go of Shepard and helped her to get her footing. The sincerity in his eyes finally calmed Shepard.

“Fine, just don't do something like that to me again. I'll skin your ass for it.”

“No you won't. You like my ass.”

“Again, still here.” Plumply interrupted.

“Sorry. So, Matt, how's the training been?”

“Well, hopefully it will get a bit more interesting from now on.”

“It will.”

“By the way, I've been meaning to ask you. You said you were one of our liaisons. Do you know, who else got that crappy job?”

“Besides me, there's Zameld and one more. He's not technically part of the Compact or trained in the Compact but he has more knowledge dealing with different species than most people.”

“Sounds like an interesting fellow. Any idea, when we're going to meet this guy?”

“Well… Now that you asked.”

Araj looked over his shoulder and the humans could see another drell walking towards them with a confident step.

“Don't I get a kiss?”

“Tore?” Shepard was absolutely baffled. Tore walked over to her, pulled her into a hug, and dipped her while giving her a very thorough kiss.

“Okay, what the hell is going on here?” Madison asked as his eyes skipped between her and the drell.

“I probably should explain. I'm kind of seeing Araj and Tore. At the same time.” Shepard looked slightly flustered as she was clarifying the situation. And earlier kisses didn't really help with her blushing.

“At the same time?” Madison looked at the two drells. “So, are you guys…?”

“No. We're both straight. We only fuck her, not each other,” Tore said as the other two couldn't get a word out of their mouths.

“Okay… Not sure how to react, but if it works for you guys, then go for it.”

The rest of the men looked quite confused as well, except for Plumply, who already knew about the situation, but who were they to judge.

“Well, now that the awkwardness is dealt with, I think a few introductions are in order,” Plumply said, trying to get the situation to a more solid ground.

Tore introduced himself and offered to walk the guys to their quarters while Shepard would accuse Araj for not telling her the truth. Araj glared at the other drell as the humans laughed.

When Araj and Shepard were finally alone, they quickly made their way to her room. Suddenly, private room seemed like the greatest idea ever to Shepard. Araj didn't waste any time before pulling her into his arms and kissing her with three weeks’ worth of yearning. Her head was spinning and she could taste a faint hint of his venom. Considering how much her senses were enhanced the last time, she was going to be in for a night of unfathomable pleasure.

Shepard could feel his hardened member pressing against her thigh and couldn't resist caressing it through his pants. Araj's breathing hitched as he felt her nimble fingers following the contours of his cock. It had been too long since he had felt her touch and he knew that if she didn't stop, he wouldn't be able make sure she was ready for him.

“Babe, you have to stop that for now.”

She didn't pay any attention to his words and, instead, set to work to open his pants. At the same time, she nibbled gently the sensitive ribbing on the side of his neck, causing him to moan loudly. Even through the haze of her desire, she had understood, what he was worried about. But it definitely didn't deter her, instead, she set out to make things a bit easier for him.

When she managed to open the clasps holding his trousers up, she slipped her hands around him and into his pants so she could grab his ass. Slowly, she moved her hands lower and lower, taking his pants with her. He let out a sigh of relief when his member sprung free of its confinement.

By the time his pants were around his ankles, he was staring at her intently with desire written all over his face. He could see the same lust reflected on her eyes as she started to move her hands up his legs. She scraped his legs and inner thighs with her nails, just the way he liked, before wrapping her hand at the base of his cock. She gave him a gentle squeeze and cherished the sounds of pleasure emitting from him.

Shepard looked up just to find his eyes fixed on her. While keeping the eye contact, she slowly licked him from the base all the way to the tip, where there were already a few drops of precum. She gathered them eagerly with her tongue, knowing that he would remember every little thing she was going to do to him for the rest of his life.

Araj couldn't turn his gaze way, when she continued to lick the one part of his body that seemed to have a mind of its own and that mind was set on getting inside her as soon as possible, one way or another. He grasped her hair tightly in the hopes of pressing his cock between those beautiful lips that were curled into a sexy smile.

Shepard didn't make him wait any longer as she took him into her mouth. She moved at a torturously slow pace, first taking all of him and then pulling back, dragging her teeth against the hardness before sucking on the tip.

The teasing went on for a while until Araj's patience was shredding. He pulled her hair just enough to let her know that he wasn't going to take this much longer. She let go of his cock and moved her hands to his hips. During their time together, they had made up a few signs to communicate during blowjobs. One was that when she was holding him in her hand, she was in control. The second was that when she moved her hands to his hips, he was in control.

He wasn't able to hold back anymore, so he took hold of her head with both of his hands before thrusting his length into the hot cavern of her mouth. He did his best to look at her as his cock disappeared between her red lips. She let him fuck her at his own pace and made sure to use her tongue to hear him hiss. They were both happy that her gag reflex wasn't strong because when he pushed all of himself into her, some of his length went all the way to her throat. She was willing to admit that it wasn't the most pleasant feeling, but the way he growled as she gave him the permission to fuck her mouth was worth it. Not to mention that he was more than eager to reciprocate. Just the idea of Araj giving her oral was enough to make her groan. The vibrations her reaction produced caused him to reach his orgasm. She diligently swallowed every single drop before letting him go.

Araj helped her back up to her feet and pulled her close.

“That felt incredible.”

“Glad you approved.”

“Definitely.” Araj looked her straight in the eye. “Me and Tore had a plan for our reunion. Are you willing to trust us?”

“Of course. What do you want me to do?”

He just gave her a reassuring smile as he opened the buttons of her jacket. Araj quickly disposed of his own clothing before helping Shepard with hers. Shepard just stood as he stripped her of all clothing before guiding her to lie on the bed. Then he walked back to his jacket and took something from its pocket.

“You want me to wear that?” Shepard asked, looking at the blindfold he was holding.

“Yeah. And earplugs. And we want to tie your hands, so you can't touch.”

“Okay…”

“Tore read from somewhere that humans' senses tend to be more acute when they are deprived of other senses. So, we want to test that. We'll take away your sight and hearing.”

“Shouldn't we wait for Tore then?”

“He'll come when he's escorted Plumply and the others.”

“Okay, fine. Where do you want me?”

“Just scoot up a bit so I can tie your hands to the headboard.”

She moved higher on the bed as Araj conjured up a rope from somewhere. It was beginning to be clear that the two drell had planned this quite specifically. He secured the rope to her hands but before he could tie her to the bed, she interrupted him.

“Give me the earplugs. It's easier if I put them myself.” She stuffed the earplugs into her ears and the world went silent.

“Can you hear me babe?” Araj asked looking at her face.

“I can't hear you, if that's what you're saying,“ she said, smiling.

“Time to blindfold you then.”

Shepard took the blindfold he offered and covered her eyes. She couldn't hear or see anything at this point.

After trying to speak to her again, he was satisfied that she couldn't hear or see him anymore. He then proceeded to secure the rope to the headboard before looking at the naked woman in front of him. So trusting. He gave her a soft kiss and moved off the bed, leaving her in silence and darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Belan is mentioned in the Cerberus Daily News during the second game in random news flashes. In Mass Effect wiki it's described as a garden world but that's about it. So, I'm making stuff up regarding it.
> 
> Also cookies to anyone, who recognizes the game Shepard referred to :)


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, surprise! A new chapter. 
> 
> Fret not, I haven't forgotten this story, I've just been writing my Oblivion story lately.
> 
> Anyways, here's the next chapter. Hope you like it and as always, I'd love to get some feedback.

Only thing Shepard could hear was her blood pulsing through her veins. She did trust Araj but this was something completely different, she was totally helpless. The guys'd better appreciate this, and make it worth her while.

A cool gust of air made her shiver and the little hairs on her arms stand up. Tore probably came into the room. At least, that was her guess.

She kept on waiting and when she finally felt rough scales against her ankle she reacted on reflex. And because she was a soldier, she reacted the only way she knew how. A swift kick that hit the muscular side of a drell.

“Oh shit! I'm so sorry!”

Gentle hands caressed her calf, same leg that she had kicked with. Apparently there were no hard feelings. Not that she had expected there to be. Both Araj and Tore were tough guys, who could take a few kicks and punches.

The bed dipped slightly as someone sat next to her. Another pair of hands began their wandering on her body. Shepard was shivering again but it had nothing to do with cold. The hands moved along the landscape of her body, barely touching, and it felt like her skin was on fire. Tore had been right. Losing her sight and hearing had definitely heightened her sense of touch.

A pair of smooth lips ghosted on the side of her neck and she was struggling to stay still. She could feel the lips on her neck quirk into a smile. Her subtle movement hadn't gone unnoticed. The lips changed into teeth as the man next to her started to nibble on her shoulder.

All the while the other man in the room had caressed her legs with his hands and lips, slowly moving closer and closer to her core. When she felt the very first swipe of tongue on her slit she bucked her hips. A pair of hands took a secure hold of her hips and held her still as her torment continued. A wicked tongue moved slowly back and forth across her labia as a hand palmed her breast with just the right pressure.

The drell between her legs took her clit between his teeth and pulled very carefully. Pain and pleasure mixed in her mind. It was the damn venom. It caused havoc to her senses. Not that she was complaining when she felt a strong tongue being pressed against her entrance. She gasped when the other drell took hold of her nipple and pinched, hard. That was the deal breaker for her.

Shepard threw her head back and a wanton cry escaped her lips as her reality shattered. Both drell eased their touch a bit as she tried to claim some composure. It wasn't easy, though, not with someone licking her entrance.

Eventually Shepard felt the drell move from between her legs to her side. She fully expected the guys to take the blindfold off and untie her. But it seemed they weren't finished with her.

The hand that had been caressing her breast was replaced with a ravenous mouth and the hand slipped between her legs. No soft teasing this time.  She could feel the fused fingers of a drell plunging inside her still pulsing heat.

Shepard felt a hand tangle itself into her hair and pull her mouth against a pair of the most plump lips ever. She didn't even mind the subtle taste of herself because the kiss was well worth it. Another hand was slowly making its way past her abdomen. One of the men was still pumping his fingers inside her when the other one brought his hand to rub around her clitoris. Okay, that didn't feel too bad, maybe she could live through this. And still have her voice tomorrow. But when she felt the tell-tale tingle of biotics crackling against her she came again, screaming loudly.  Bye, bye, any clear speaking voice.

Damn Tore and his biotics. That man had way too many tricks up his sleeve.

She could feel both of the men leave the bed and was grateful for the little break they gave her. That was until she felt someone settle between her legs again. A pillow was placed under her hips and her legs were thrown over a pair of arms. Shepard had barely enough time to realize in what a compromising position she was before she was filled to the brim with a rock hard man flesh. Or drell flesh in this case.

Any thought she might have had flew out the window when her senses were overwhelmed by the drell hammering into her. Considering the way he was hitting her cervix with the deepest thrusts, Shepard concluded it had to be Tore. Being fucked by him always had her teetering on the line of pleasure and pain. So far the pleasure had always won but maybe that just said more about her fixation of slight pain during sex.

The venom Araj had given her earlier while kissing her was starting to hit her with full force and when Tore hilted himself once again, Shepard flew over the edge again, calling out his name. Somewhere in the back of her mind she hoped that the room was soundproofed because otherwise it would be a very embarrassing day of training tomorrow. Being heard in the throes of passion was not usually the best way to make a good first expression.

A gush of warmth flooded her when Tore spilled himself inside her. He pulled out and straight away Shepard was turned around onto all fours and she was filled again. This time it had to be Araj. It was becoming evident that the guys had missed her just as much as she had missed them. If she could expect a fuck like this every time they were apart, then maybe she had to make it her mission to find them every now and then after the training. But now she had almost five months of training with them and she was going to reap the benefits.

Araj moved a bit slower than Tore had but not with any less intensity. It was as if they were taking out all of their frustration of being apart on her. Not that she was complaining. She tensed her pelvic muscles and Araj's pace faltered. Shepard could practically feel his growl. He always did love when she squeezed him while he was inside her.

A hand gripped her hair, tightly, pulling her upper body off the bed and she smelt the familiar odor of sex and musk near her face. They had done this before so she obediently opened her mouth. Instantly the head of Tore's cock was pressed between her lips. He pushed forward until her nose bumped against the scales of his groin.

The two drell matched their paces so when the other pushed in the other one pulled out. Shepard was just trying to keep breathing as the duo used her body for their own pleasure. She had never imagined she might get kicks out of something like this but the two drell had proven her wrong. In many cases.

When Araj moved one of his hands to fondle her breast, Shepard came one more time. Her moan of pleasure caused Tore to spend himself into her mouth as Araj filled her with more seed.

Shepard collapsed on the bed and she was vaguely aware that her hands were freed and the blindfold was taken off.

Tore took the earplugs off her and looked at her face with slight amusement.

“I think she passed out.”

“Never thought we would actually succeed in that,” Araj laughed as he gathered the languid woman into his arms.

“I'll get the bed ready if you clean her up,” Tore said as he pulled the duvet off the bed.

“Deal.”

Araj carried Shepard into the bathroom and carefully cleaned any residue of their recent activity off her. He pushed his fingers into her sheath hoping to get most of the cum out of her. She had once given a very detailed explanation why she didn't want to wake up in the morning covered in spunk. And because of the way he and Tore and filled her, she would be leaking during the night if he didn't clean her.

What he didn't expect was for her to react to him in her semi-conscious stage. It never ceased to amaze him how responsive she was to his venom. When he was satisfied that she was clean enough, he couldn´t stop himself from making a quick pass over her clit with his thumb. He was rewarded with a yet another release.

Araj chuckled softly as he dried her and carried her to the bed where Tore was already lying.

“She still had one more in her?”

“So it would seem. Did you set the alarm?”

“Yeah, it's a good thing you were able to convince Zameld to start tomorrows training's a little later. She's going to be spent.”

“Probably.”

The red drell laid her down to the bed and she curled automatically next to Tore, who let out a low laugh.

“She's like some sort of a heat seeker.”

“You're complaining?”

“Hell, no.”

“How did the rest of her team take that she's sleeping with the both of us?”

“They were clearly surprised but I doubt they will cause any trouble.”

“Good.”

“What are we going to do about everyone else though?”

“What do you mean?”

“I'm a bit concerned that some of the older ones might think that the only reason she has been admitted to this exchange is because she is sleeping with us.”

“That worry is utterly unwarranted. Even if someone might think that, tomorrow's training will prove them wrong. She deserves to be here as much as they do. Probably even more so.”

“Do you think we should have told her that every drell in the facility will be able to smell us on her?”

“I'm not waking her up just to tell her that.”

“I wasn't suggesting that.”

“We can tell her in the morning. Right now, I'm feeling too damn good to be concerned.”

Araj settled down behind Shepard and it didn't take long for the three of them to fall asleep.


	22. Chapter 22

“Well, aren’t you looking cheerful,” Madison commented with a knowing look on his face.

“What’s not to be cheerful about? It’s a beautiful day,” Shepard quipped back as she sat down with her breakfast.

“Yeah, yeah. You got some. Well, good for you.”

“Aww… You’re jealous.”

“Maybe a bit.”

“I’m sure if you ask nicely you’ll find a drell here willing to screw you too,” McKenzie said, looking over his plates of food.

“Haha… Very funny,” Madison murmured with a sour face.

“If you want I can tell a few friends of mine that you want to be on the receiving end,” Tore laughed.

“Shut up.” The engineer covered his flaming red face with his hands.

“I have a stupid question to you Shepard,” Smith said.

“Shoot.”

“Why are all the drell in the room staring at you, Araj, and Tore?”

Before Shepard managed to open her mouth Araj answered.

“It’s because they can smell us on her. The moment we walked in everyone knew that she’s been with both of us.” He turned towards her. “We should have told you sooner, sorry.”

“No worries, sweetie. I’ve known all along. I’m okay with this.”

“You knew?”

“I checked some things about drell when you first stepped on the Dreadnought. I’m not embarrassed about being with you two and I don’t care if they know.”

“We were worried that you might be upset with us since some of them might assume that you are here only because…”

“Hah! If anyone gets any ideas of me being here only because of you two, I will prove them wrong.”

“Damn right!” Plumply affirmed.

A bell rang and everyone stood up. It was time for the first lesson.

* * *

 

Several hours later the humans had changed clothes and were doing some warmups at the exercise room. They had been requested to work as instructors for next training session. The plan was to teach some basic grappling and move from that. When Araj heard about this plan he had let out an excited trill causing confusion to everyone in hearing distance.

Forty drell were standing at the edge of the mats waiting for the humans. Most of them were trying to look at anywhere besides Shepard who was wearing only a sports bra and skintight shorts. Tore and Araj on the other hand were enjoying the view tremendously.

“Okay, enough chit chat. Let’s get started. Just follow the lead of my team and do as I say,” Plumply shouted and started to run.

The drell obediently followed them and did everything the commander told them to. After the initial warmups they moved on to grappling technics. Plumply was impressed by the drell. Their eidetic memories made it easy for them to remember the technics. Although it was obvious that it might take a few tries to actually apply them in combat. At least to some of them.

When they switched to sparring they ran into a problem. The young drell that was assigned to spar with Shepard refused to touch her.

“Hey, kid, I’m not going to hurt you, so relax.”

Shepard tried to give the young drell a friendly pat on the shoulder but he moved away from her touch. Tore was standing nearby and noticed the hurt feeling passing on her face. He made a questioning sound that she couldn’t hear. The younger drell glanced at Tore quickly before giving a shaky answer.

“It would be inappropriate for me to touch a female claimed by another,” he said, looking at the ground.

“Claimed?” Shepard asked with a raised eyebrow.

Araj and Tore both gave a subtle cough.

“Oh for the love of… Even though those two might have ‘claimed’ me, they don’t own me. And they most certainly can’t keep me from fighting. Now, you better fight back before I hand your ass to you.”

“None of you need our permission to touch her, only hers,” Araj said in a loud voice.

“Maybe I should have said this up front. On the mats, there are no ranks and no genders; just those kicking ass and those getting their asses kicked. No special treatment to anyone,” Plumply announced. “Now get your asses moving, that’s an order.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” The humans shouted in unison.

Plumply set the timer for five minute rounds and once he announced that the clock was running, the humans promptly took their opponents down. The young drell that was Shepard’s partner had barely time to realize he was down, when he also noticed that he was in a chokehold. He quickly tapped out and turned to face a smirking Shepard.

“Try to keep up, kid.”

The pair stood up and Shepard made a move towards his legs. He countered it but was taken back when she changed her trajectory on the spot and instead jumped to triangle choke. She landed hard on her back pulling him with her. He tapped once again.

Shepard loosened her hold slightly but didn’t let go.

“Come on, I’ll tell you how to counter this. There are a few different ways. One: You can press the tendon here…” She showed a spot on the inside of her hip. ”…until I have to let go or you can wrap the arm that I have trapped around my leg. It will open your airways and give you a chance to do something else. Got it?”

He nodded and tried the moves she had told. They worked just like she had said.

“Good. You’ll get the hang of this. You guys have been taught all the pressure points. Take advantage of those. They will cause excruciating pain but no permanent damage. At least if you don’t apply the pressure for too long,” Shepard explained as they stood up.

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said in a quiet voice causing Shepard to laugh.

“Just Liz or Shep is fine on the mats, kid.”

“Lafo, my name is Lafo.”

“Nice to meet you, Lafo. Now how about we get back to business.”

When the bell rang to change partners, Lafo thanked Shepard with a shy smile on his lips before moving to the next opponent.

“I think you got yourself an admirer,” Tore whispered to her as they locked their hands behind each other’s necks.

“Sure…”

“Trust me. I’ve seen that look before. You’re probably one of the first females he’s seen since he’s been given to the Compact. That probably fits to most of these kids.”

“Just how old are they? I can tell they’re younger than us but just how much younger are they.”

“They are all a bit different age. Depending on when they have started their training. So probably anything from 12 to 25. They didn’t take the youngest ones for this program. At least yet.”

“Most are still kids, Tore.”

“I know. But they have been trained for years by now. They are not your average teenagers.”

“Very true.”

Tore took Shepard down to the mat with a clean throw and stretched her hand to a straight arm bar. She tapped when she felt the pressure in her elbow increasing. When he let go of her she made sure that her elbow still worked. An incident several years earlier had made the elbow a bit hypermobile and it still caused problems occasionally.

“You’ve done this before.”

“Taken a female down to a soft mattress? Several times in fact.”

Shepard couldn’t help but laugh at his licentious expression. They could hear covered chuckles around them. Their little exchange hadn’t gone unnoticed.

Round after round they trained until all of them were exhausted. Eventually Plumply had mercy on them and called for stretches. By this time none of the drell tried to avoid Shepard anymore and even bantered with her. She was one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been way too long since I updated this story. Sorry about that. But I decided that I'm going to concentrate on this one so I might be able to get this story done.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time of miracles is not over! See, a new chapter. I'm sorry that this story has taken so long and I hope there might still be someone who is willing to read my ramblings.

Plumply and Shepard were leaning on a railing and watching as twenty or so drell were attending their meditations. Even after several months the humans hadn’t really gotten into the whole sit quietly and contemplate idea. They would attend every day but they were not required to stay there the whole two hours. Not anymore. The hanar had understood they didn’t have the patience required.

“I got to tell you, Matt, I’m starting to doubt the benefit of this exchanges.”

“I thought you liked this,” the gruff looking man said as he turned his attention to woman standing next to him.

“In a way, yeah, but our training programs are too different for either group to get anything greatly valuable from this.” Shepard glanced at her commanding officer who was staring at her with his arms crossed.

“Do tell.”

“The drell are trained to work as individuals and to rely only on themselves. We? We are taught that we’re only as strong as our weakest link.”

“You work alone.”

“But I’m also trained how to function as a team. There is a difference.”

“Agreed. Any thoughts?”

“How about some basic excercises for team building and trust?”

“It’s not a bad idea.”

They turned back towards the meditating group below them. It would be the human’s turn to hold another training session in half an hour. A smile crept on Plumply’s face when a thought occurred to him.

“Shep, can you still hold a tune?”

Shepard looked at the man slightly confused and then it dawned on her. The pair stood there for a moment laughing before they went to look for the rest of their team.

The drell were waiting in the training room. They had been told to gather there for another human-led training session. Most of the humans were standing in front of the group, chatting amongst themselves. All but Shepard and Madison.

Araj and Tore shared a confused look when music filled the room. It sounded very different from anything they had heard. Nothing like the usual annoying beat that could be heard in all the clubs across the known space.

A strong voice started to sing along with the music.

 _It’s time to strap our boots on_  
_This is a perfect day to die_  
 _Wipe the blood out of our eyes_

 _In this life there’s no surrender_  
_There’s nothing left for us to do_  
 _Find the strength to see this through_

Shepard walked from the back of the room with Madison on her side with his omnitool blaring music. She continued to sing even after they arrived to the front. The drell stood there stunned. The song was more effective than anything they had experienced before. It was like it was seeping inside them and making their hearts match the beat of the music.

 _I stand here right beside you_  
_Tonight we’re fighting for our lives_  
 _Let me hear your battle cry_  
 _Your battle cry_

 _We are the ones who will never be broken_  
_With our final breath_  
 _We’ll fight to the death_  
 _We are soldiers, we are soldiers_

When the song ended all the humans were almost vibrating with excitement. Their eyes had a predatory gleam in them. Plumply focused enough to turn towards the drell and saw the same feelings reflect in them. Old music still hadn’t lost its touch. He didn’t understand why music industry had taken a turn to south but he preferred music from the late 20th and early 21st century.

“Okay, guys. That was a blast from past, Earth history at its best. It also involves today’s topic: We. Earlier our training has been mainly about individuals but today we will do group exercises because in our military it’s one of our greatest strengths.”

Araj listened at the commander carefully but also noticed from the corner of his eye that Shepard climbed on a nearby scaffolding that was used as a part of their training.

“One of the most important things is to trust your team. You have to trust them to watch your back, hold their own, and keep you alive. At the same time you have to keep an eye on them to do the same to them. It’s all about trust.”

Plumply pointed towards Shepard who was standing with her back against the edge close to three meters up. As everyone looked at her she leaned back without any hesitation and fell. Araj and Tore looked in horror as her hair floated around. They closed their eyes because they didn’t want to watch her hit the ground. Instead of breaking bones they heard a low thud and a gasp of surprise from their fellow drell. When they were able to muster enough courage they peeked and saw Shepard lying safely in the arms of her fellow soldiers with a wide smile on her face. McKenzie and Smith lowered their arms so that Shepard was able to stand on her own feet. They had grabbed her into their joined hands easily, just like they had on numerous occasions before.

“That is trust. Trust in your fellow soldiers. Trust that they will watch your back,” Plumply announced. “That is something that takes time but we will start working on that today. Divide into teams of five and we’ll start.”

Shepard was exhausted. She stripped her clothing quickly and headed to the shower. As the water cascaded on her she could feel her muscles loosen. Plumply had pushed them hard and her body ached from all the training. But it had been worth it. The drell seemed more social amongst themselves and they were joking on their free time.  Only time would tell whether the comradery would last.

After she had washed and dried herself, she wrapped a towel around herself and walked out of the bathroom. She was immediately pulled into an embrace. The familiar smell surrounded her and she could feel another body press against her back. Both Araj and Tore were humming with an oddly stressed tone.

“Never ever do that again,” Araj said somewhere near her neck.

“Do what?”

“When you fell, it was as if my heart had fallen with you,” Tore whispered into her hair.

“That little drop? Guys, I was perfectly safe. I knew that Jack and Al were going to catch me,” Shepard tried to comfort them. She hadn’t expected that their little demonstration would have shocked the two drell.

“If something would have happened to you we would have killed the other humans,” Tore said in a harsh voice.

“No, you wouldn’t have.”

“Well, maybe not. But there would have been pain.”

“Trust me. I would have hurt them myself if they had let me fall.”

All three of them chuckled and the tension eased. But Shepard still wasn’t finished. She released herself from the two males and put on a pair of shorts and a tank-top. Then she turned towards the pair.

“Now, why don’t you two explain me something.” The two drell looked at her nervously, they had an idea what this might be about. “What’s with the worried looks? It’s not like I’m going to torture you. I just want to know why you two were so concerned about today’s exercise.”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” Tore said softly with a lopsided smile.

“We care about you. More than you probably would for a regular ’fuckbuddy’ as you so elegantly have described,” Araj explained as he took hold of her hand.

“Do you mean…?” Shepard asked and paled slightly. There was a flicker of hope inside her. She had known for a while that she cared, maybe even loved, the two drell but had been afraid to ruin everything between them. They had agreed to a casual relationship.

“We love you. I know it’s not something we agreed on when we began this affair but we have come to care about you a great deal,” Araj continued.

“At some point we probably have to discuss about how we’re going to work all this out when we get back to ‘normal’ life. That is assuming you feel even a bit like we do,” Tore said with tension in his voice. It was clear they were worried about her reaction to their declaration.

“Don’t you two worry. I do,” she smiled and saw the two males let out breaths they had been holding. “How about we leave that for another time and just spend a nice evening together?”

Araj smiled at her before leaning down and claiming her lips for a possessive kiss. She thought absentmindedly that she really shouldn’t have bothered with clothes because if the kiss was any kind of indicator her clothes would be lying on the floor in no time.

She could feel Tore’s naked body next her as he stripped her clothing. When she was bare he carried her to the bed while Araj peeled his leathers off. And for the first time they didn’t just fuck, they actually made love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Shepard sings is Soldiers by Otherwise and belongs to them and Century Media Records. I have no claim on it. I'm just a fan. For those who are unfamiliar with the song I've added a link:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p733z6aKwMA


	24. Chapter 24

The exchange program was nearing its end for Plumply’s crew.  Within a week they would be returning to Earth to give their final reports. The humans were sitting in the lounge with Araj and Tore. The two drell had been quite an inseparable part of the group since their relationship with Shepard had gotten more serious. All three of them were wearing wide metal bands (both drell refused to call them bracelets) on their wrists to signal everyone that they were taken.

“What are you planning on doing after you’re done babysitting us?” Smith asked Araj while sipping his drink.

“The Illuminated Primacy has asked me to join the next part of the exchange. So I’ll be heading to Earth with you guys and Zameld. We apparently have to do some ground work before the others come to Earth for the other part of the exchange.”

“Cool. How about you, Tore?”

“I’m a freelancer and the hanar aren’t willing to have me involved in this program for a longer period. Well, actually they are okay with me in the program but only if I sign up for the Compact. And that is not happening.”

“So…?”

“I have no idea. Depends on what kind of job offers I get.”

“You’ll be on your way?” Madison said with a somber expression.

“At some point, but not yet,” Tore said before kissing the top of Shepard’s head. She really didn’t want to think about the moment the training was over and they would have to separate.

“Well, if you need a place to stay, you’re always welcomed at my pad,” Madison added. He had forged a friendship with the drell. They had the same kind of sense of humor.

“I think I have first call when it comes to giving him a place to sleep,” Shepard commented dryly.

“No sleeping when I’m in your bed,” Tore whispered next to her ear. A shiver went through her as his breath on her skin made the small hairs on the back her neck stand up.

“Shep, why is your omnitool flashing red?”

Shepard turned her attention to McKenzie who was looking at her arm. Her omnitool was flashing in a deep red shade that wasn’t anything like the usual orange that most omnitools had. She glanced at her hand quickly before starting to tap the virtual display furiously.

“Oh shit! Fuck, fuck, fuck!!!”

“What?” Araj looked at her worried.

“Goddammit!!!”

“That didn’t help.”

“Zaeed.”

“Oh shit,” Plumply said in a low tone. Shepard’s little outburst was drawing attention. Attention they didn’t need. “Liz, we can’t have this conversation here. There are too many people around.”

“This is about the old merc on Omega? Why are you so worried about him? He can take care of himself,” Smith commented and regretted his words almost immediately when Shepard looked at him. If looks could kill… “Okay, I’ll shut up now.”

Plumply grabbed Shepard’s arm and pulled her towards her room. He knew Shepard wouldn’t want her relationship with Massani being common knowledge. That could cause problems. They made their way through the corridors with the rest of the group following the pair. She, on the other hand, hadn’t even noticed they left the lounge.

When Araj closed the door to her bedroom everyone had settled around the room. Shepard was still on her omnitool and didn’t seem to hear anything they said. Plumply finally got fed up and walked over to her. He took hold of her face and turned her eyes to him.

“Liz, talk to us.”

“I got a message from Zaeed. Vido found him.” Her eyes were shining and everyone could see that she was close to tears. Plumply let go of her and settled nearby.

“Are you sure?” She just nodded and showed them the message.

_Dear Hannah,_  
I’m sorry I can’t come to see you and your brothers. I got delayed when I ran into an old friend. You remember him? He visited your parents the last time you saw him. No idea when I’ll be able to come and see you again.  
Jessie sends her love.  
Your uncle

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Everyone looked confused. They all knew Shepard’s brothers had dies years ago.

“It’s code. We came up with it years ago. He only calls me with my mother’s name when he is pinned down. Talks about my brothers when it’s a one way gig. And the talk about my parents? It’s Vido.”

“Shit…”

“Do you have any idea where he is?” Tore asked

“Yeah, he sent the coordinates hidden in the message. I’m trying to get a ship, so I can go and save his wrinkled ass.”

“Liz, if you leave in the middle of the mission the Alliance will court-martial you,” Plumply said softly.

“I don’t give a flying fuck! I’m not leaving him in Vido’s hands! He is all the family I have left!” Shepard screamed at the top of her lungs. Tears were falling down her face. She sat down on a chair and hid her face in her hands.

“They would probably kick you out of the force.”

Tore kneeled next to the weeping woman and let out a low soothing rumble. He ran his hands along her arms.

“I’ll go.” Shepard didn’t seem to hear Tore’s words, so he gently pulled her hands from her face and repeated his words. “I’ll go.”

“Tore…”

“I don’t have to answer to the Alliance or to the Illuminated Primacy. I’m the only one of us who can go. Just tell me the coordinates and give him a heads up, so he won’t shoot me on sight.”

“You won’t be able to come back, you know that, right? The Primacy won’t take kindly to you just taking off without a warning,” Araj said as he placed a hand on the other drell’s shoulder.

“I know and I don’t care. She’s hurting and I can help.”

“Sweety…” Shepard looked at Tore with tears in her eyes. She knew that Zaeed wouldn’t have sent the message unless he was sure that the situation was dire. There was a good chance neither Zaeed nor Tore would get out alive.

“I know the chances are slim. But they’re still there.”

She stared at him for a long time before giving him a nod. She sent him a message with the coordinates and started to tap another message. This time to Zaeed.

_Sorry to hear that, Z. I was hoping to introduce you to my newest boyfriend. A lot like the last one you met but this one is fierier. Tell Jessie to take care of you, I’m sure we’ll see as soon as possible.  
-S-_

“You think I’m fiery?” Tore asked with a lopsided grin and was rewarded with a small smile.

“I don’t think that message makes any more sense than the one Massani sent you but I trust you know him well enough to know if he will understand it or not.” Plumply turned to Tore. “He is a tough bastard, but even he has limits. Get him and yourself out of there alive. Liz will be pissed if anything happens to either of you.”

“Sure thing, Matt.” He took hold of Shepard’s hand. “Babe, I’ll let you know when I get him. I won’t be able to come here again but don’t worry. We will see again. You can count on that.”

Shepard wrapped her arms around him and stayed there for a while. Everyone else felt like they were invading a private moment and left the room. Araj was the last one out of the door. He looked at the pair embracing each other before he smiled and left to give the two some privacy.

Shepard and Araj were packing their clothes and equipment since their flight to Earth was leaving in a few hours. They still hadn’t heard from Tore and Araj was starting to get worried for her. Every passing day had made Shepard quieter and quieter. He wasn’t sure would she be able to handle it if she would lose Zaeed and Tore. She had already lost so much in her life.

Tore had already taken his stuff when we he went to rescue Zaeed and the two left behind didn’t have much in the room, so it didn’t take them long to gather everything and head to the docks. On the way there several of the drell that had trained with the humans came to say their goodbyes to Shepard and the rest of team. Despite the rough start, the two groups had managed to create bonds of friendship. Some of the older drell would be coming to Earth later and they were hoping they might be able to see their new friends while there.

To the human’s surprise, the Dreadnought was waiting for them on the docks. Captain Murray greeted them as they walked past the airlock.

“Welcome aboard again.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Plumply said as the humans saluted their former commanding officer.

“Your previous sleeping quarters have been assigned to you. I assume you know how to get there.”

“Yes, sir.”

They took their bags to their room and the men left to get something to eat while Shepard sat on her bed, deep in thought. She hadn’t eaten much in the past days and the others didn’t want to push her.

Shepard’s omnitool informed a message coming in. She glanced at the sender and rushed to open it. The message was in bad shape but she got the gist of it. Between all the static and distortions.

“…..tough fight…… son of a bitch….. got him…. Omega….”

Tore had found Zaeed. They were safe.


End file.
